One Part Inspiration...

I've just made two phone calls 'across the pond' as they say - to dear friends "down under". There, it is already late tomorrow afternoon. When I called them, it was 9:00 last night. Even though it is still today here. As I wrap my mind around that one, I am also wrapping my mind around the fact that 2008 has come to a close. And in just a few more hours, 2009 will be a fresh new page in the history book. I have just taken a few moments to look over 'what happened' in my daytimer. It is filled with various appointments, and notes, phone numbers, notes to self - all things I was busy taking care of. There were times when I felt like I was "off to the next crisis" as my mother used to say. Other times when I had some space to enjoy looking at (and smelling) the roses. And somewhere near the end of this year, the phrase "JUST FOR TODAY" became my mantra. I realized anew, I only have today given to me - to worry about tomorrow and...

What makes a tradition? When my daughter asked me that the other day, I answered that a tradition is anything that you do more than once. One of our family's favorite traditions is stockings. We have been drawing names for several years now amongst the five of us to play "Secret Santa" . It is always interesting to see the various interpretations of what Santa would use to fill the stocking. I use this term loosely, because stockings are too small to house the goods. Instead, we use a variety of bags, (Plastic and the more environmentally friendly cloth bags) or boxes, to hold the items. [One year, my husband manufactured a stocking for my musical brother - it was a velvet note. A very large velvet note. The bottom of it where the note is round, was where he put the stocking stuffers. Try hanging that on the mantle! I don't think so! From that year on, we migrated away from using traditional stockings.] Of course, my longest standing tradition when it come...

If you are like me, getting your house work done at Christmas is overwhelming. This is because you have already spent your energy decorating. Let's face it. By the time you have finished getting all the decorations in and out of storage, finding places to put them ( and finding places for the 'regular' stuff which you don't want out at this time of year) , you hardly have the "get-up-and-go" to grab a cup of tea, let alone get your house ready for the guests who will be coming to visit. And yet, having a dirty, messy house can be a real drain on your energy. So how does the busy woman balance getting her house clean and decorated? The key is motivation. Once you are in motion to clean, energy will flow. But how does one get motivated? To help you find the answer, I am here to offer you my Steps To Holiday Cleaning . First, you'll want to put off decorating as long as you can. If you decorate too early in the season, your cleaning will also be done which wi...

Every year, at my #1 job, we have a door decorating contest. I usually try to come up with some creative idea that will 'wow' the judges, but this year, what evolved was a lovely and touching creation that 'wowed' me! I started by looking around for ideas for my 'Art and Music' group. The people who come to it are varied - some enjoy the socialization; some are very much interested in the art; some sing along to the music. It is always a challenge to find a project that will have meaning to the people who come to the group. I found an idea from a teacher's website to create a tree using hand prints. The directions were trace around the hands, create the tree out of them and put hearts on them to say who the participants loved. Since I work with seniors, I decided to adapt the idea and make it more 'grown up'. This is how it evolved. We started by using one group to make actual hand prints using paint. This took a long time and it seemed that w...

Rules of the Christmas Band Concert: At least one band member must play their instrument in a completely different key than the rest. The person with the instrument which is out of tune, must play the loudest. At least one band member must be late. The band member who is late, must have their place in the back row, so that every other band member has to move their stand, their instrument, and their music to let the late member through. The temperature in the venue must either be so warm, that every grampa in the place is asleep before it starts, or so cold that the whole audience looks like a giant amoeba, just trying to keep warm. The parent who actually remembered to bring their camera/video camera, must have a squeaky seat so that when they stand up to get the picture (which is usually about 15 times in the concert), the seat will alert the other audience members that they HAVEN'T got a permanent record of this momentous occasion. If there are refreshments, the cookies that drop...

Christmas! It's time for the tip toeing around trying to hold onto the surprises and enjoying the sights and sounds. Visiting with new friends in the line ups at the post office. Loving the customer service that helps you put a package together to send for less. Enjoying the lights that the neighbors have turned on. Seeing the snow line come down on the mountains. Getting out the red tablecloth to put on the other table. Now the two tables match. Rejoicing in the fact that my Dad arrived safely - he didn't get lost in Winnepeg on his way out!!!! Next week, it will be a no-holds-barred shopping spree. Stockings are my favorite part. This year, my husband is getting a back scratcher. I know he'll be surprised. SHHH don't tell him. Oh yes, and I am getting a _ _ _ but I'm not supposed to know. So I'm not going to tell myself lest I spoil the surprise. Oh, and one more thing, I've convinced the sales people at _ _ _ _ _'s to hold onto the _ _ _...

Every year, I make an effort to release myself from something that causes me stress at Christmas. Some years, it has been baking. Others have been sending cards. [sorry to those who were expecting something that year!] I wander around humming "Let it Go, Let it Go, Let it GO" rather than getting my knickers in a knot about not accomplishing EVeRY tHInG on my LiSTTTTTT!!!!! This year, it's decorating. Now before you rush over with a hot water bottle and a sympathy card, let me explain. I am in the throes of moving many things around in the house. This is due to the fact that, in October, my husband moved his office to a different location and thus, we have inherited a collection of office furniture, dining room furniture, plastic mats, a t.v., a VCR to name a few. This came shortly after my foray into the world of the big switcheroo to accomodate the "Wii" (you might remember that post, I called it "It all started with the fly on the wall") in the ...

It all started when I was getting dressed that day. I was home alone and I had my list ready of all that I was going to accomplish. I was going to pull on a pair of jeans and work around the house. At the time, I had a pair of white lace-up runners. I had already put the runners on. I had also tied them quite tight, and decided I didn't feel like undoing them to put my jeans on. Sometimes as a grown up you do things that, in retrospect, you realize are simple lessons you shouldn't have had to re-learn. Lessons a two year old would know better than to try. This was one of them. The lesson here, boys and girls, is that jeans, unless they are wide-legged [which these were not] will not pull up over running shoes without reaching a point where you no longer can pull them up. Nevertheless, that morning. I believed that if I gave it a really good tug, I should be able to do it. No sense wasting more time undoing my shoe to put them on. So I gave it a really good tug and I did i...

O.k. I forgot something. I celebrated 15 years of working at my main job. They gave me a pin. I gave myself a clock. That pin is pretty tiny! And I don't wear that coat every day. I look at the clock many times in the day. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Well, I was all set to write up a little something on Monday, but something happened....what was it? Oh yes, Life. So I am setting myself down to write a little post on Milestones since I have a few minutes to think. Here are some of the Milestones that I have marked this past year. I'll start from the most recent and work forward: As of December 1 2008, I have been blogging for two years. Yay me! I started blogging with the intention of learning a few new skills and was quite convinced that by the time I got used to it, I'd tire of it and that would be IT. However, I discovered quite the opposite. I have really enjoyed the process of writing and many of you have been so encouraging to me that I have kept it up with no plans to stop.....maybe just pausing ..... you know....when life....gets in the way..... I started a new job. It is kind of like that saying "Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver, the other gold. The job description is nothing like what...