January 14

One of my biggest challenges is handling my over analytical, emotional nature.  I have a hard time letting go.  I dwell on things that bother me.  I worry about offending people. This is usually not a big concern, but sometimes it can't be helped.

Right now I am having a particularly hard time worrying and dwelling on some things.  So I am grateful for the experiences I have been given.  I am grateful for the chance to reach outside my comfort zone and learn and grow.

I have to add, I'm so grateful for my sweet children, they make me laugh every single day:)  

Jan 13, 2014

Some days it is really hard to think of things.  Today was one of those days.  Work was ok, took the kids for hair cuts, did groceries.  It was one of those nothing remarkable happened days.  

Our haircuts were eventful though.  Poor Braydon decided he wanted a fancy haircut, but he hates hair gel and brushing his hair and the style he wanted just wasn't going to happen.  So mommy overruled him.  Unfortunately he didn't really understand and was really upset he didn't get what he wanted.  I felt so bad and told him if he wants to start styling his hair he can do whatever he wants next time.  Anyway, that wasn't really a positive story because B and I both felt awful.  But he wasn't upset for long, so that's good.

Anyway, I guess big thing gratefulness today.  I'm grateful I have a great job, a good pension, and an amazing family.  I'm grateful I have money for groceries and a car to drive there.  I'm grateful for my good life!

January 12, 2013

This was a low-key day!  We had slept over at my sister's place and she treated us to an amazing waffle bar breakfast.  So, I guess I'm grateful for food;)

I took Ally on a quick shopping trip.  We swung by fabric land to acquire an appropriate thread for stuffed hippo stitches, and found sewing patterns for $1, so naturally I stocked up.  I am hoping to revive my brief and not very distinguished sewing career.  I'm hoping to make Ally some dresses, and various other odds and ends.  Ally wants me to make us matching Cinderella costumes, so that should be interesting.

My running training is going well.  Just finished week 4!  I'm nervous for week 5.  I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with it so far.  I know I need to improve my eating habits as well, so I guess that's the next step!

Saturday the 11th of January

This day was a joy from start to finish.  Weekends are always fun, but this was special.  We got to visit with my sweet baby niece and babysit her for a few hours while her parents had their first night out!  She's a lovely little thing and it's so, so nice to get baby snuggles without all the responsibility.

It's also lovely to see my kids reactions to and interactions with Sophie.  They are both just enamoured and it's sweet to see how they try to entertain her.

I also got to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law, which doesn't happen enough!

What a wonderful day!

January 10th!

I'm a bit behind - the weekend caught up with me, I guess.  So some short and furious blogging coming at you right now!

Friday was an average day.  Nothing too remarkable happened.  But we did have a lovely evening - it was Friday so our traditional pizza and movie took place.  We watched the 2nd last Harry Potter movie (almost done!). It was a quiet night, the kind that makes you grateful for everything you have. And so I was:)

January 9th

This little blogging streak of mine is quite exciting!  Apparently stream of consciousness gratitude journal is the way to go for me!

Today was a pretty average day.  Not too good, not too bad.  Sometimes the really good things are hard to pick out.  I guess it would be harder to pick that stuff out of a really bad day though.  And part of this whole exercise is to realize what I have and help me live with positivity and optimisim.

Today, work was quiet, but I actually got a lot done, which is always awesome! 

Braydon is definitely one of my good things today.  I've really noticed in the last couple of weeks, he is trying very hard to be helpful, to be kind, and generous.  Last night Ally misbehaved at bedtime, and her consequence was no computer time (tablet time) today.  She was quite upset and wanted to watch tv instead.  I informed her that actually, Braydon would have first choice.  There was much debate, ok yelling by Allyson, and ultimately Braydon chose to give up his choice and let Ally go first.  It was so wonderful to see his kindness towards Ally today.

Another good thing, started from a bad thing.  Allyson is stubborn. Opinionated. Demanding.  Qualities I will want her to have as a an adult, but as a child, it can make her behaviour very demanding.  She likes to push my buttons and she is quick to throw around talk like 'you're mean, you're terrible etc.  her attitude often makes me angry. And then tell, then she yells and , well, you get the idea.  So I am really working on adjusting the way I deal with her so I can stay calm, rational and authoritative.  It's hard, but I'm getting better and I see it is making a difference.

2014-01-08

I am really enjoying this exercise of typing out a few wonderful things in my day, before I go to sleep.

Today's things of wonder:

I'm still going strong with my fitness and race goal.  I plan to walk at lunch for 30 minutes as much as possible.  So today I managed 3.5km in 30 minutes on the ice rinks they call sidewalks I'm Oshawa!  Bonus - my leg muscles are working extra hard to keep me upright on ice.  I also started week 4 of my run training.

Today Braydon was giving kisses to his sister and hugs to me, for no reason.  He is not very demonstrative, so it's a rare treat to get voluntary affection from him.

Allyson was cracking me up today.  She was demonstrating exercise moves for me, including a 'backmo', which seemed to involve climbing the walls.

Ally had some challenging behaviour tonight and I was proud I stayed calm and rational, while maintaining authority.  She knows how to push every button, so I need to learn ASAP how to keep my cool with her, or I'm in trouble for the teenage years!

Man, coming up with good stuff is easier than I expected!  This is fun!!

January 7th, 2014

So, I'll tell you what I'm not grateful for today - polar vortexes, that bring arctic air to my unsuspecting neighbourhood, making it -39 with the wind chill factor.  But this isn't about what I don't like.

In high school, I was a good saxophone player (um, I feel like I should be modest here, but I did win several music award so maybe I was better than good).  Anyway, sight reading has never ever been my forte, so when I got to university I never tried out for a band, I lost my nerve.  It is a great regret of mine. So I went, I guess 15 years without playing at all.  Then I got to a point where I was kind of tired of the same old routine, I needed an outlet for stress and a way to get out of the house.  So I very nervously joined a local community band (shout out to Pickering Community Concert Band!). I was very rusty at first, but I'm getting better.  Sight reading is still not my forte, and likely never will be.  But I love, love, love having music in my life again.  Music was such a large part of my formative years, and I hope I can share this passion with the kids as well.

Another excitement for today - my delightful sister is my pseudo personal trainer (but really; my entire family is very supportive of any endeavours that help you get strong and healthy).  Anyway, Stephanie told me about a workout I just had to try.  It was a countdown work out from 15 reps, with squat jumps, push ups and Russian twists.  It took my 15 minutes, I had to modify a few reps (ok a lot, ok most reps), and I felt like I was going to throw up, but I did it.  And now now my arms hurt when I lift them above my head. So thanks for that, Stephanie!

Tomorrow I will try to do a walk at lunch (oh yah, another good thing from yesterday - I walked 3.41km at lunch!), and I have to start week four of my 5k training tomorrow night!

Actual January the 6th

Well, I've decided if I miss a day, I'll just do it the next day instead.  Surprise, surprise, I missed my first day back at work.  Here's the problem with having a job....it actually leaves no time for my hobbies!  

So my good stuff from yesterday: I am a co-chair of the kids' school parent council.  I love to be involved in stuff like this.  I like to be 'in the know' at school and I love making a difference in the school.  Anyway, so far this year we've had 2 successful fundraisers, with even more on the way.  We have a great committee, filled with amazing and enthusiastic people.  I am so glad to have this opportunity to be involved!  And I am proud of what we have accomplished so far!

The 6th of January

Today was so bittersweet, it's the last day of my 2 week Christmas vacation, tomorrow is back to the grindstone.  So today I tried to savour every last second of vacation.  I didn't get dressed and we spent much of the day watching movies -  Wreck-It Ralph and the 5th and 6 the Harry Potter movies.  It was a lovely, relaxing, low-key day.  I had plenty of lovely moments with each if my children, which is nice, because I expect they'll be quite tired in the evenings this week.

Tomorrow there is supposed to be a big storm, and they are already talking bus cancelations, so the drive to work tomorrow may be stressful.

In other news, I managed to mostly finish one full mitten (except the thumb) of the January Woodland Winter mittens.

I also officially finished book #1 for 2014. I have decided to read all the Canada Reads 2014 books this year.  I started with Annabel by Kathleen Winter.  It is a story about a child born a hermaophrodite in Labrador in the 60's.  His parents decide to raise him as a boy. I'd say the major themes relate to gender and gender roles.  The writing was really gorgeous.  Though I found the first half more lushly written.  All in all a riveting read.  One thing I notice in my reading, is I always rush to get through it, I want to know, what is next, what is next.  I want to remember to focus more on enjoying the process of reading, and appreciate the beautiful language.

January 4th

This evening I sat on the couch, snuggled with Allyson, watching a Harry Potter movie with the family.  Braydon is enamoured of these movies and asks questions non-stop, start to finish.  I love sharing this wonderful series with him and his questions amuse and sometimes amaze me.

The poor kids are exhausted and back-to-school on Monday will be a challenge. I'm looking forward to enjoying our last day of Christmas vacation, by sitting on the couch, snuggling and watching lots of movies!

January 3rd, 2014

There was so much good in this day!

1) morning snuggles with Allyson

2) family movie day - working on the Harry Potter movies

3) watching Braydon build with Lego

4) working on my first fair isle knitting project, and it's going pretty well.

5) even though my kids drove me crazy staying awake 3.5 hours after bedtime, I

got a good laugh when they can downstairs together, to apologize for their awakeness, but it's not their fault, it's just their brains are so busy today.  Oh, and mommy, let's make a deal, if you let us watch tv for half an hour that will confuse our brains and we will fall asleep.  Oh man.  I'm screwed when they are teenagers!

January 2nd!

Today started out wonderfully, with cuddles on the couch from my (4 year old) baby.  I know all too soon she'll be wanting to stay away from mom.  I also got to enjoy a daytime bath while my husband played with the kids.  Oh, but my favourite memory of this day was watching Allyson skate on her real ice skates from Santa, for the first time.  Pure  joy on her face!

January the First

Oh hey, I'm writing another blog post, it must be January!

I am going to try to blog every single day in 2014 - but only positive thoughts.  Even if it is just a sentence about a wonder from that day.

I'm done with that whole resolution business.  Instead I've decided to create a theme for the year and set some goals.

Theme: Always be better!  This applies to all aspects of my life. I will try to do better, I will try to be better!  I want to improve myself mentally, emotionally and physically.

Goal 1:  Learn to Run.  In 2008, I ran the Sporting Life 10k, and I did zero training.  I have tried to run in the past, but didn't follow a program and so I always got some sort of injury and fizzled out.  I am running the Yonge Street 10K in April and I am training properly this time.  I've started the Couch to 5k program and after that will complete the Bridge to 10k program.  If the run in April goes well, I have my eye on 2 more races.

Goal 2: Read more - I aimed for 35 books with project 35, and I think I read 15.  This year I will just aim to improve that number.

Goal 3: Craft Wiser - knitting and crocheting is a large part of my unwinding and relaxing time.  But I have amassed a large amount of supplies.  I don't *need* to buy anything.  I am going to suppress that urge as much as possible and use what I have  already!

Goal 4: be kinder - I want to be the kind of person who brings empathy and understanding to the world.  I want to bring kindness and joy to others.  I will be kinder in thoughts and in actions.

Goal 5: be more optimistic - this used to come to me so easily, but not so any more.  I often feel tired, run down.  I think motherhood just exhausts you.  I feel like the energy it used to take to be optimistic  is all used up on other stuff now.  But not anymore!  I want to have positivity in my life.  You know that whole 'fake it til you make it' idea?  Well, I'm gonna do that, with optimism and positivity.

So that's gonna be 2014 in a nutshell!

New Year's Day was a great day for me.  We spent the day with my family, I went running with my sisters and mom, I saw my children be so loving and kind to their baby cousin.  It was an amazing day!