Sunday Night Chit Chat.

*My apologies for the wonky fonts.

Copying from another blog to post 

here meant a weird combination!

• Reading? Files, files, files .... our Charitable Organization has our CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) review on Thursday morning and I'm making sure everything is in order .... or at least found!
• Listening to? The rain pitter pattering on the roof and the wind blow against the house.
• Watching? Game of Thrones. Snuggled on the bed with my hot water bottle, my lovey and youngest daughter. 
• Cooking/Baking? Nothing at the moment. But we had warm cookies from the oven today!
• Happy you accomplished this week? Program planning for spring and summer. Facilitators meeting with my crew. Contacted new volunteers to meet this week. Planned my teen grief group tomorrow. Reviewed my workshop Power Point for Tuesday night. Printed off the girls' taxes. Calculated our younger sons taxes. Reviewed ours so we can print them off tomorrow. Cleaned out the fridge. Raked the front yard. Cleaned the preschool. Shopped for groceries and for the centre. All while battling a nasty cold bug. 
• Looking forward to next week? Working with the teens tomorrow, teaching new volunteers on Tuesday, a day off on Wednesday, our review then lunch with a dear friend on Thursday, a light teaching day on Friday, a new program launch on Saturday and a well-deserved sleep in day on Sunday!
• Thankful for today? The rain that is making our grass quickly turn green and the air fresh instead of dusty and brown. 
• *Bonus Question* What is your preferred method for contacting someone? (email, text, phone, letter, etc...) I love email because I have a trail if I ever need to go back for clarification on a conversation. But prefer the phone for special days like birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations, etc. Love to write and send  letters and especially love to receive them. I only text when waiting for someone one or something comes up that needs a very fast response. 

A special gift from 

an incredible friend!

Hop over to Carla's blog to 

read everyone's contributions 

to "Sunday Night Chit Chat".

A Favorite Thing!

 Joining in with Claudia's

"A Favorite Thing" 

over at her blog

Mockingbird Hill Cottage. 

We found this beaded and jewelled

lavender heart at the 

Antique Mall a few months ago.

It was beautiful site on a cold,

wintery day. A splash of

color when the season is

often so white.

Our bedroom has slowly 

begun to change from just

sage and white, to

sage, white and lavender. 

I love when colors come together!

What is your favorite thing this week?

My Love ....

.... tucked me into my 

comfy bed tonight, after I 

worked all day with a stuffy 

head, dizziness, aching ears and 

a constant shift between 

being hot and cold. 

He made a yummy dinner, 

soft so I could swallow.

Heated up my hot water

bottle to the exact temp

I love and can tolerate. 

He turned on the tv so I 

could be entertained

and plugged in my laptop

so I could write. 

Not sure what I did to deserve

him but thankful he takes such

good care of me. He 

truly is my love!

Brewing Storm!

There is a storm brewing outside 

our window. An advisory has

been issued for strong winds

topping 90 km an hour 

and heavy, dreary rain. 

There is even a chance of a

powerful thunderstorm. We did

see streaks of lightening on the 

way home from the storm. 

We usually don't get storms
like this until July, so it's a bit
early but it has been a weird year
for weather. With rain showers in
the winter and snow in the spring,
this kind of weather doesn't
truly surprise me anymore

For tonight, we'll batten down the 

hatches and stay cozy. And hope that

the strong winds don't get worse. I 

love our trees and don't wish to see

any fall down as some have in the

past. Fingers crossed!

Old Movies.

Tucked in to bed until I truly have to get up, I'm watching an old movie called "All That Heaven Allows" with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson from 1955. Because my husband is a film maker, movies are a big part of our life and he introduced me to vintage films years ago. The first movie I ever saw was "The Sound of Music" when I was 4. My mom took me to the movie theatre while she was in labor with my brother. Thankfully, she labors for a long time so we didn't miss anything but my hand was sure sore later. I love when it comes on tv periodically. It's still my favorite!

Do you have a favorite movie or a great memory of a favorite movie? 

Under the Weather.

Woke up this morning feeling like the little creature above. I feel like the weather outside: dreary, rainy, and blustery, with no sun in sight today. Aching head, shivering from feeling cold, then sweating from feeling hot, scratching, flemy throat, sore chest. The worst part is everyone has gone to work and I'm home alone with the puppies. Just me and the puppies .... and I can't get the Tylenol bottle open! I'm off to work in a bit to teach preschool this morning. Will take the bottle with me so my colleague can crack it open for me. Thankfully, we have the most comfortable couches on site. My lunch time plan is to nap between classes!

I hope your day is much better and your world is sunny and warm. 

It's a ....

.... itsy, bitsy ....

.... teensy, tiny ....

.... blue and white ....

.... shark emerging from the pool!

Flower Love!

Flowers that express Love!

Just for my mom because she

is a gift to all her meet her!

How do you express Love?

Oh so good!

We celebrated my mom's 70th Birthday last week. The food at the dinner was sooooo good!

Raspberry lemonade fizzy drink.

My apologies for the orientation of the picture. It doesn't matter how many times I've saved it the right way, it keeps loading this way. Just turn your screen and you'll see the lovely hue of this colorful concoction!

My incredible pasta shrimp dinner. 

Definitely a spot we will dine at again!

My Buddy!

He sits beside me 

when I'm writing. 

He sits beside me

when I'm folding laundry.

He sits beside me 

when I'm watching tv. 

He sits beside me 

when I'm having a hard day

and lays beside me 

when I'm taking a nap. 

His name is BoSox and he's

just one of our 4 grandpuppies.

And of all 4 grandpuppies, 

he's the one who is MY buddy!

Endings.

Today, I held the hand of a woman who is actively and courageously dying. 

She is younger than me, with 4 children, a loving spouse and a loyal puppy who follows her around the house all day.

A future stolen and a past to reconcile before she goes. 

I work with families who are facing death and yet every single time I hold a dying hand, I am humbled by the sheer strength they represent. The strength to keep fighting when a deadline is imposed. The strength to leave a lasting legacy. The strength to make sure all those left are cushioned in  their grief. The strength to say goodbye, with dignity, integrity and love.

It's a privilege to be invited into these very intimate and heart wrenching journeys, as hard as it is to be there.

Do you ever think about what it would be like to know the end of your life is near? Do you have plans for a gentle ending? Or a list of amends to make? Task to complete? Dream to live out? Changes to implement?Debts to pay? 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Stress Reliever!

Yup, it was "that" kind of day today ....

Mmmmmmm!!

Lace Love!

I love shopping at the thrift store 

and coming across beautiful 

handmade lace for a price that 

makes me so incredibly sad. 

 I love paying the small price.

But sad that someone spent a lot

of time working so hard to make

these incredible pieces of art and

someone else decides that they

are only worth .25 cents ~ for

all three. Sad!

Do you love to collect lace?

Bad Blogger Award!

I have so neglected my blog. I promised myself to write a post each day, even if it was just a quick note. With my quick early morning calculation, I should be at post 112 today. I've got a bit of catching up to do, with just 48 posts under my belt. That's an incredible 64 extra posts to come up with to get back to my goal. Perhaps I'll have to lower my expectations of myself. When I set a goal, I usually achieve it. But life is busy and keeps getting in my way for this particular task! The sad thing is I read a ton of blogs each day when I take a break from my work. I love catching up with what everyone is doing and the accompanying photos are inspiring. 

I've given myself a "Bad Blogger Award" to kick my butt into gear. Now just to get a routine going so I can continue to record life at this stage!

How do you slot blogging into your daily life? Any tips you can share?

Winter!!

It's arrived!

A mere 6 months early! 

So excited!

Looking forward to a 

blustery, snow filled day.

Sigh ....

Jumbled Numbers ....

.... in my head ....

I can't sleep! The numbers are swirled all over the place. They won't stop moving. Just when I think I have them in order, I go back to them and start all over again. What numbers are jumbled in my tiny little head, you ask? These ones:

*the price of our land, now up for sale - a hard decision to make

*the small remaining amount owing on our house, which was up for sale on the weekend but we will take it down now today - knowing how much equity we have helps us figure out the size of the new house

*the phone number of the gentlemen who has expressed great interest in our land - waiting for him to call back with a time to view

*the proposed price we would be comfortable with to accept if he makes an offer

*the price we would hope to pay for a new piece of land we found yesterday, if it's still available, but with no online listing to be found, we've come up with what we think it would be worth, based on the other land we looked at yesterday

*the "best case scenario" cost of what it would cost to build on said land, if it is available and a decent price

*the number of months it would take to build a decent sized home

*the timing of when we would then sell this house - moving twice is not an option but thankfully our bank has already confirmed we would stay here as our equity more than covers a build

*the potential new equity we could achieve by building from the ground up vs. buying a house to reno or buying a house that needs no work - gaining equity at this point in our lives is important for our potential move to the West Coast - what we build here will buy comfortable there

As you may have guessed by now, we've switched gears a bit to explore the idea of building a new house from the ground up. On Saturday, we looked at several homes with a realtor. One that needs a ton of work and is way overpriced (his term but we totally agree), one that is so outdated that it lacked life and one that was charming and needed no work. But only gave us 100 square feet more than we have now, at a premium price, more than $150,000 above our home's value. And in that house, as much as we loved it, we'd lose a bedroom, a formal dining room and an office for dh. We'd gain a fireplace in the master bedroom, a walk-in closet too, a walkout basement for dd and grandson, a bit larger lot and a lake view. Keeping it on our list but I think in the end, we'd kick ourselves for paying higher for a beautiful look but less functionality.

Yesterday, we viewed 6 pieces of land in our County. The first 2 were right in town and the others were 5.5 minutes out, 3.5 minutes out and 1.5 minutes out. The last was our favorite but that is the one that we have no idea if its available. Realtor sign is on the land and out on the road but not online. Fingers crossed the realtor calls soon so we can bid it a fond farewell and keep looking. Or start figuring out if that is the right one. Excited about the idea of creating our dream home, to suite our needs now but also in the future when it's just the two of us. And build good equity for resale when we're ready. 

I hate that I often have numbers rumbling around in my head. Watching "Call the Midwife" and "Games of Thrones" and creating visual budgets in my brain at the same time. Because we live a very frugal life, the numbers are important to me. I can't let them get out of hand and we refuse to take on debt. We'd only go this route if the numbers work out in our favor. Selling our land is giving us that edge up we need to enter this project. Without it, we'd never entertain the idea as the cost of land around town is not cheap. 

Exciting new adventure! It may not work out in the end but giving it a try and we'll see how it all falls in to place. My parents raised me with the idea that if it's meant to be, it will unfold but if it's not, it's not worth the energy to fight it in to place. 

Happy Easter Monday! I'm off to start dinner prep. Big family dinner at our table tonight.