Month: February 2021

Snow day

I woke up today (Monday, February 22nd) for that I am thankful. I actually jumped out of bed early to catch the sunrise over the lake. I took in the warm pink colours peeking through the trees while I drank my morning coffee. Yes, my coffee had maple syrup and milk in it; don’t knock it till you try it. The beauty in my morning view fills my heart, I am thankful for each sunrise I get to watch. The beginning of a new day. Let’s do this!

I had a long list of productive things I was going to do today. A weekday off from work is where you will find me being most productive. When my son in school and I have the house to myself. I had my “Monday to-do” list in my hand and ready to start. My plans quickly changed just as I got into the swing of things. Yes, I make real to-do lists, not being the best sleeper often makes me forgetful. Also, I just love the organization of a list and the accomplishment of crossing things off the list.

As the snow started to dance flake by flake down to the already enormous amount of snow piled around the house I had a gut feeling the school buses were going to be canceled. Moments later my feeling became a reality. I have always allowed my son to stay home on snow days. They were some of my favourite childhood memories. I am thankful for snow days. Slow down and enjoy each day. I laugh at whatever the day challenges me with and I do my best to make it fun. Life’s too short to have anything other than laugher and fun.

I decided my Monday to-do list can be done another day. I decided to just go with the flow. What kind of fun can be had on a snow day? No more to-dos just as much fun as possible. Everyone needs days like this. It doesn’t have to be a snow day just slower than a normal-paced fun day! My favourite kind of day.

I had the laziest morning I traded in my to-do list for a good show and more coffee. I watched the snow come down and harassed some of my friends. I am thankful for the power of the internet and messaging to keep in touch when I can’t see them all. Never enough hours in a day to be thankful for all my friends. My crew includes some pretty awesome people! Thanks, friends.

What did our snow day look like? FUN! Dan came home from his grandmas and immediately cranked his music up. Our house is always filled with tunes. I’m happy when I’m singing. I’m impressed at all the lyrics Dan’s learned, be it they are mostly Stomping Tom but it could always be worse? Right? I still have “Tillsonburg” stuck in my head while I am trying to write.

I left the day in Dan’s hands and through the eyes of a kid, we did whatever he wanted. I needed those laughs kiddo, Thanks. From jewelry making for his teddy bear to snacks, stories, NES, a sappy puppy documentary that made us cry, snuggles, singing, and dancing you name it we shared a lot of laughs. Laughs until it hurt to laugh. We never did clean up all the snow that fell. No work accomplished today. I don’t think tomorrow is always promised to us but I do think you need to make each day the best you can.

My tomorrow to-do list is going to be twice as long but I wouldn’t trade the fun we had for anything in the world. So many of our days are a blur of things we think we have to accomplish immediately. Nothing on my to-do list was more important than sharing laughs and making memories. I am thankful for my son and all his fun snow day ideas. I am thankful for friends who each and every day make me laugh.

Here’s to more snow days and lots of fun still yet to come. Slow down and appreciate the people who each and every day make your life even just a little more fun.

Growing

I have a confession before I start this blog. I kill plants. Yes, it’s true. I don’t mean to be a plant serial killer it just happens. For the record, this is not on purpose. I don’t buy plants to kill them; it’s not a fun hobby of mine. I would love to have my house covered in plants. I would love to grow big beautiful palm-type trees and to have flowers in every colour. Sadly I have none. My last victim was an aloe plant. Rest in peace, my little friend.

It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a flower, tree, bush, or house plant I seem to kill them all. I have been trying to grow something, anything, without much luck. I have dreamed of my house being covered in greens. Every plant I have tried to keep has perished rather quickly. I can’t take all the credit for killing the plants I do have a cat that gets into all the plants. He enjoys digging up plants as well as eating them. Thanks, Noah for being so helpful.

Valentine’s day 2021 was the first time in forever I can remember not receiving any flowers from a loved one. Hold up don’t worry Valentine’s Day was saved thanks to a kind strange man. I came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. This kind guy decided to buy a truckload of flowers and hand them out. The world needs more kind strangers like that guy. Thanks, James.

I am not a huge fan of cut flowers they never last long and it’s kinda sad when they die, but for the time they are in full bloom, the beautiful colours and scents delight me. Every year for as long as I can remember my Opa (grandfather) has bought me more flowers than anyone I know.

I have never seen such beautiful bouquets of flowers as the ones arranged at our local store here. Trugs Floral’s flower arrangements are exceptional. I love where I live.

The house I purchased some years back came with amazing flower gardens. The lady who lived here had the most beautiful gardens. I could tell she took such pride. I am trying. I find it hard to find the time to spend in the flower beds. I buy new soil every year and mulch and I feel like I spend way more time than necessary. Yet everything keeps dying.
I am trying. My plants and flowers are a process. I am not giving up. I am determined. I have joined plant growing groups. I have reached out to people with beautiful plants for tips and tricks. I am designing a yoga corner in my house that will hopefully include hanging plants, ones that I can keep alive.

Life is a work in progress and not everything I have tried has bloomed into something great but I never give up. It seems simple to some but it has been a real struggle for me. Hit me up if you have some plant tricks or tips. For those of you living locally if you love gardening swing by in the spring I could use all the help I can get.

This is my year. I am going to successfully grow a house plant or two and I am going to get my outside flower beds looking like the year I moved in. Stay tuned for the updated plants I grew and or kept alive in the spring forward blog!

Growing is one of the most important life lessons. Never stop growing. Always have dreams and goals to work towards even it’s something simple as successfully keeping a house plant alive. I never stop growing. I fail. I get up and I keep trying. Every dead plant or failure has taught me something to try differently. I try again. I will not give up until I have beautiful plants. I have that drive and determination about any obstacle in life. Find positivity, keep moving forward and grow.

Dreaming

Recently while sitting down by the lake in a ray of sunshine I made a bucket list of 100 things that I want to do. Sitting down by the lake is where I do a lot of my writing and dreaming. I wrote out a list of 100 things I want to do as well as places I wanna see. I encourage you to make a list too. I had a ton of fun dreaming of so many things. I need to keep the dreams alive. Wintertime blues got me feeling like I wanna stay in bed, under my heated blanket forever! Covid got me feeling like I wanna stay home without a mask on. Ah, home the place where it’s acceptable to be in Pj’s and un-masked.

One place I have always dreamed of going to is the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas. This has been my dream for years. The Cadillac Ranch has 10 Cadillacs buried nose-first into the ground that you can spray paint. It truly is a beautiful piece of artwork. One I must see for myself. My dad went to this beautiful location without out me. Yes, I still talk to him despite how mad I am he lived my dream without me. He didn’t even bring me back a t-shirt. He did however take some cool pictures. I have to add a picture of the Cadillac Ranch to my vision board. I haven’t traveled much of the U.S.A but Amarillo is one of my dreams. A must see! Cadillacs and a Texas-sized steak and this girl would be happier than ever!

Another place I dream of one day seeing is the Yukon and Alaska. I watch a lot of shows based in these areas and I know it doesn’t do it justice but it’s something I have to see. I have a need to see the Northern Lights. My parents met in the Yukon many moons ago. The stories that have shared made me dream more of seeing the great white north. My son was supposed to be hiking the Chilkoot Trail last summer but due to travel restrictions, it’s on hold. I hope like his grandma before him he hikes it and takes millions of pictures.

My ultimate Yukon/Alaskan dream is to get on the back of a dog sled. To have a team of dogs run me through the wilderness in complete silence taking in the sights. That to me would be paradise. I need to experience this. I dream of dog sledding. I recently heard a quote about what it’s like to be on a dog sled and I loved it.

“On the back of a dog sled is as close as it gets to a magic carpet ride.”

Who doesn’t wanna go on a magic carpet ride? The closest thing I ever got to a magic carpet ride was probably those crazy carpet sleds we had as kids.

I have never owned a sled dog. I think it would take a lot of corgis to pull me in a sled! What an adorable team of corgis it would be though.

Recently I started walking my friends Husky and I realized the strength of pull this girl has and how she can walk forever. I cannot tire this dog out. I have enjoyed how long and how fast this dog walks. She keeps me running and laughing. She has helped me get over my winter blues more than anyone. I cannot imagine if one husky can pull that much how fast we would speed through the wildness with a team. I need to experience this! Yes, clearly I have thought about stealing this dog, only one problem, no scratch that we have a couple of problems with this plan. First, off I have Kelso the corgi who is a super grumpy old corgi who bit and ripped the nose off this husky when she was a puppy, and my friend has keys to my house! I would have to steal her and bolt north to start my dog sled team!

I cannot wait to be able to travel again. I have so many places and faces I want to see.

In the meantime, I will be around town walking dogs down by the lake forever dreaming and writing.

What’s one place you have always dreamed of seeing? What’s one thing you have always dreamed of doing?

Make a bucket list of 100 things. I had such fun dreaming of all the things I want to do! Cure your winter blues with dreams.