One Part Inspiration...

               Grampa wore her out.   He got on the floor and showed her how to crawl. Then,  he brought the kittens to her. Then,  he carried her around the house and they turned light switches on and off. Then,  they found the dog, and she took rides on Henrik's back, while Grampa held onto her.  Then,  he brought her to our room and helped her do somersaults.   Then, he played the thumb game with her.     He put his thumbs out, she would reach up and grab them, and he would help her stand, and bounce on the bed.   Then,  she would let go,  flop backwards, and belly laugh. Then.  she would reach her hands up to his thumbs to do it all again.  Over and over,  they played, until she slowed down the bouncing to a rocking back and forth with her legs. Then,  he put the soother in her mouth.   Then,  I sang her a s...

A Letter to My Children: I have a confession:  Your mother has a secret life. And, so does every other mother on the planet.  There was the mom that you saw.  Then there was me - who was  (and still is) essentially, just a girl in adult-sized skin trying to navigate the waters of motherhood as best as she could. You saw a mom who insisted on following rules; who gave consequences if you disobeyed. You didn't know that I second-guessed myself a lot - it was a constant battle to decide if the consequences were fair, and consistent, or if I was just being ridiculously stringent. [Or worse: if I was being totally erratic.] You saw a mom who took life very seriously.   You didn't know that I felt a huge responsibility for bringing you up right.  You didn't know the nights I cried myself to sleep; the weight of raising you to be a decent, loving, respectful, law-abiding citizen, heavy upon my heart. Y ou saw a mom who insisted that you obey authority a...

Don`t get me wrong.  I am captivated by short videos demonstrating easy ways to prepare delicious looking food.  I find myself clicking onto websites that promise that I will become a candidate on "BEST CHEF E.V.E.R."  But when it comes right down to it, I don't have the attention span to produce the same end result. "Their" kitchens never look messy while they prepare the food.   Mine, looks like a tornado tore through the back door, and didn't stop until it it took the whole neighbourhood with it.   "Their" ingredients always look fresh.   Mine have to be stacked "just so" because otherwise, the product, which otherwise would be its way to product heaven, might be too distracting in the ingredients photo. Case in point: Manuela`s blogpost looked like this: and I was INSPIRED BY WHAT I SAW I thought.  "Hey, the girls and I are getting together for dinner this week, and I said I'd bring desser...

In my programming, I am into Springtime activities.  It goes along with putting away the winter clothes.  Let's not think about songs that have snow in them.  Let's bring out the songs of hope and new plantings. Today, our afternoon group took a song called "Springtime in the Rockies" and changed it up to "Springtime in the Valley". It turned out to be so much fun.  We started by talking about the difference between the spring we are experiencing and what the rest of the country is going through.  Apparently it has been the worst winter E.V.E.R. in some parts, with a new load of snow arriving just this week.  One man mentioned that his son who 'lived over there' said there was 9 - 10 feet of snow piled up - and that was BEFORE the new snowfall arrived. Meantime, in the Valley, we have: and and the sound of Much as we try not to rub it in, we cannot relate to the feeling of going out for a walk just to see if there is a ...

I decided to make March my month to release the expired. So far...   I have thrown out all makeup with less than one drop in the bottom of the jar.    I finally dumped the cauliflower in cheeze sauce I made for Christmas dinner.      I threw out the Pepto Bismol from 2010 - not even opened. It feels good to be rid of them.  It also makes me happy that I won't have to worry about bacteria in old makeup   And that my husband won't get sick from my cooking    And that my health has been good enough not to need the Pepto Bismol at all. Inspired by these events, I went through my closets. It is almost time to swap the winter for the summer.  My winter clothes seemed to have stood the test of time for now.  However, my shoes were showing major signs of wear.  I decided on two pairs that I need to say "Farewell" to. The corollary of getting rid of what is expired is that I now have room to add a couple new pairs. ...

I came home from work, made supper and then went to a card-making class.  It was hard work. I enjoyed learning this new skill,  but found the evening taxed my brain.  By the time I went home, I had a bit of a headache.  To make matters worse, when I arrived home, I smelled something 'off'. It smelled like cat pee.  I kept trying to find the source and couldn't pin point anything.  I emptied the garbage, put laundry into the machine, washed down the sink.  Still I couldn't find the reason why it smelled so bad.  My headache persisted, so I waved the white flag and went to bed. All night long, I tossed and turned, trying to sleep.  I did manage to get some rest, but no relief for my headache came.  I tried taking medication.  I tried putting a magic bag on my head.  Nothing really helped. When morning finally came, I decided to make a cup of coffee and see if that might do the trick. The smell of cat pee not only lasted all ...