Life and Death.

Favorite show!

And tonight, an episode that

included both Life and Death. 

Totally a mirror of my daily job!

Yesterday I ....

• drove my daughter to her work - too far to walk as it's on the other side of our little hamlet
• came home to water our "quickly changing to green" grass and trees
• tidied the house that was beautifully clean on the weekend but by yesterday was looking a little weary
• had a long, hot bath and planned my day while soaking
• met a board member who is redesigning our website for tea - iced, shaken lemonade teas, my favorite
• ran into a old friend who has become distant - we had a brief but lovely chat
• paid all the bills for May and June so I don't have to think about them for the next two months
• ate a scrumptious lunch of leftovers - love that my husband cooks such wonderful meals
• spent the next 8 hours working on a project that includes a lot of tiny sticky notes, with receipts, spreadsheets and mind boggling numbers
• scheduled appointments for my next day off, including one bank to gather the last few items I need for said project, an appointment for renewing our little mortgage and an appointment with our local funeral home to pitch a project idea
• created a budget for our now booked holiday, set for June 28th to July 8th
• went shopping for the preschool and used a Groupon that was gifted to me to buy little B 3 toys/activities that totaled $44 but I only had to pay $4 - my kind of deal!
• played with little B before his gym class then got back to my paperwork once he was gone and dh had gone to the hockey game with a friend - love the quiet when I have to concentrate on numbers
• crawled into our comfy bed to watch Corrie at 1 a.m.

So much for a day off!!

It's going to be a long day as I've been awake since 6 with a puppy who wanted to play. But lots of good things happening today and tomorrow is another day off, so I can catch up on my sleep then. 

Enjoy your bright and sunny day, where ever you are!!

Frustrated!!

I've just spent the last hour trying to post free ads to our local newspapers website. A great events calendar that should be full. Now I think I can see why it isn't. I've posted two events. One took right away but has not yet shown up. There was no message to indicate it has gone thru. No recourse. Nothing! So at the moment, I have no idea if my event is there. I tried a second post for another of our support groups and it doesn't do anything other than sit there. I click, it sits, not frozen, just "dead". 

Sigh. 

I think paying for ads would be far less time consuming and likely not as frustrating!! If we had the budget, its the route I would definitely go. 

Question of the Day!

Our world has woken up finally and spring has arrived. The sun is out, there is a light breeze, the air smells wonderful, the grass is getting greener by the moment and the buds on the trees are bigger every second. As much as I love the rain, the sun goes make everything "happy." Planning my day to include time outside, watering our lawns and our plants, sitting on the deck under the gazebo to have my lunch and opening all the windows to bring the air inside. Classical music playing to keep my company. Cupcakes baking in the oven. 

I have to teach a class today to a group of grieving teens at an alternative school in the city. A nice little group, with 3 boys and 1 girl, plus their guidance counsellor. We're meeting for 8 weeks and today is week 3. I've planned our art based around clay, something they were quite interested in trying. I have one very chatty boy who is very determined to not go down the same path as his family members in their grief journey, which has included addictions and crime. Smart kid, full of hope for his own future. 

After the class, I have to pick up my daughter from work and we should be home by 3:20. That leaves the rest of the evening for enjoying the yard, including dinner on the deck. I have some paperwork to tackle and hope to get a good start this morning. I have two deadlines looming. One is Friday but that one just requires printing off the documents to send. The other is next week, May 14th. It's a big one and lots of little pieces of paper and notes that need to be organized. The actual meeting will be less than an hour but the gathering will consume some time that as much as I don't want to do it, it will be good to get those things into a better order of organization. Next week is full of meetings every evening and one concert midweek, so I'm cherishing this week that includes just one evening meeting on Thursday. Working in the morning tomorrow, then working from home in the afternoon. Wednesday is my day off. Thursday is my long day, a solid 12 hour work day, including two counselling sessions in the morning for two children, an afternoon class to attend (yeah, I'm not teaching that one!), and a support group meeting in the evening to lead. All easy stuff. Friday is easy with two small classes with little people. Saturday is full with a grief class in the morning and shopping/housework/gardening in the afternoon. We might go to a plant sale at a community event that includes an art sale! Sunday is Mother's Day and hopefully a day of blissful nothing, except family, good food and relaxing. The weather is supposed to be 20+ every day. I should be sporting a lovely tone of brown on my skin by week's end!

My quote and question for the day: 

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver, poet

A Favorite Thing.

Joining in for this week's 

"A Favorite Thing" 

over at Claudia's. 

Introducing Lua Oak, sleeping soundly

in the fresh air, with gramma. 

And a few minutes later,

wide awake with grampa!

Exactly Eight ....

 ....  more weeks until we ....

.... pack our bags ....

.... hop on the plane then off ....

.... for a trip across the sea ....

.... to our favorite place on earth!

Okay, not quite "across the sea" but

we do go across the strait, 

from Vancouver Island 

over to Salt Spring Island.

Just 8 more weeks to a place of

peace, tranquility, renewal and rest!

Where is your favorite place to 

visit in the world?

Gratitude.

There are so many things that I 

am grateful for in my life. 

A fun, loving family,

a warm, cozy home,

a creative, flexible career,

a circle of support that we can

lean on, sharing the good 

days and the bad. 

Today, I am grateful for

the amazing blogging world. 

Laying in bed, utterly miserable

with pain and congestion, 

your blogs have taken me

away from my plight, given me

hope with your beautiful pictures of

spring that ours might just be

around the corner, and

you've entertained me with

stories and images of your lives,

a wonderful distraction from

these dreary days. 

Thank you all for sharing your

journeys with all of us who

spend time each day reading them!

Thankful for Pneumonia!

My cold has progressed to pneumonia, an annual event for me in this house.  A side effect from being an asthmatic kid. But for the first time ever, I'm truly thankful for this blip in my schedule!

While I am not happy to be this ill, I'm relieved to have some time just for me to stay in bed and get better. Life has become increasingly hectic over the last few weeks and I'm quickly falling behind in all my projects. While laying in bed for the next few days will not cure what ails me, it will give me some time to clear my head, rethink my priorities and create an action plan. I was feeling quite overwhelmed yesterday but waking up today and deciding that everything will have to fall to the wayside so I can recover has made me feel better already. I'm going to lay here and get better and dream. And then put the plan into place so I don't have to rely on getting sick for my world to slow down. 

Definitely not the best way to live this beautiful life!

Thankful for an incredible work environment where my time is my own and taking time to fight this battle is not a burden on anyone. 

Thankful for a dear husband who takes care of me the best he can and is coming home early this afternoon to pick up our daughter from school and make me my favorite soup. 

Thankful for a warm and cozy house that is sheltering me today from the blustery snow outside. Yes, it is May 1st in Alberta but that clearly hasn't stopped Mother Nature from extending winter this year. 

Thankful for my soft bed that comforts my aching body and makes sleeping easier when every thing hurts!

Thankful for my naturopathic doctor who has just the right combination of herbs and supplements so I can heal without any side effects from drugs. 

Thankful for sleeping dogs at the moment. Not sure how I will manage to take them outside but dd made sure they had a good run this morning. If all goes well, they'll sleep well until dh gets home!

I'm off to make a steaming cup of tea to savor in my cozy bed. Looking foward to feeling stronger and back to a better path once this bug leave my body. Have a lovely day and stay healthy!!