One Part Inspiration...

It's been seven years since I have seen this boat in person, and yet in my dreams, I often hop in take myself across the lake, to enjoy a virtual trip to the Island.  It is the stuff that dreams are made of.   I love the tranquility.  I love the pace.  You can spend a whole day, mucking about doing various projects - most of them non-essential - such as puzzles and word searches or games.    There are books which visitors have left behind for the next party to read. In between there is kindling to collect and the occasional window-washing venture. There are many trips to the fridge to see if  any munchies have appeared since your last visit. Much of the day is spent walking back and forth to change. Jammies to bathing suits; bathing suits to clothes; clothes to bathing suits; bathing suits to sweats; sweats to bathing suits; bathing suits back to jammies. Days are spent in and out of the water, at the table, and meal preparation or clean-up in...

New Year's Resolutions are always the big topic at this time of year.  I have been thinking about it all week, as the beginning of the year approached and then arrived. It seems everyone is talking about what to do, how to do it, and how they will accomplish all the goals to which they aspire.  Generally the talk is about exercise and diet.  People are interviewed about it and they say they want to be in the best physical condition of their lives.  Then about two months into the year, all sorts of ads appear selling off the treadmills.  Usually there are pictures of the exercise equipment showing coats hanging off the handles, because that is what they default to, after two weeks of not keeping up with the Resolution.  Coat Racks. Radio shows, the TV shows all resort to looking at the way we set ourselves up with Resolutions.  One had a call-in show to 'the doctor' who would give advice about fitness and diet.  A lady called in and complained ...

Random thankful thoughts: Thankful for heat This year, for the first time in three years, we will have heat radiating from a heat source that isn't electrically oriented.   We made it through two winters of living here without a heat source.  And we have the Hydro bills to prove it.  Once the radiators were hooked up and running, my husband was so excited he turned the heat right up to 25 degrees Celsius.  It worked great.  The only problem was that it was one of the hottest days of the year already.  What we learned from this exercise is that the radiators heat up quickly and they hold their heat for a really long time.   We all took a long cold shower to counteract the effects of this experiment. I am already thankful for the heat.  I will not take it for granted.  

While I was doing my taxes, it occurred to me that if I had all my receipts categorized by month, I might save myself some time come April. Usually I spend the better half of a day looking at the receipts I have collected in the "tax file" and strain my eyes trying to read the date and the amount of money it cost me. Why this took 24 years to figure out, I really don't know -.....................thinking...... nope.  still.  don't.  know. I began the hunt.  Whenever I have to do an unpleasant job, a cool tool can help me feel a little bit more motivated to get 'er dun.    So I began to look around for one that would be magically delicious.  I spent about an hour at the stationery store.  Nothing in that department, but I did find some pretty files that I am going to use to update my old ratty ones.  Oh, and I got some nice pens, and some printer paper.  I am easily distracted in stationery stores..... Then last night, I...

It is time for my annual expose on taxes.  You can go here    or here  if you want to refresh your memory on some of my more brilliant thoughts on the subject.   Or you can just come with me to the tulip festival where I successfully avoided anything to do with how much money I didn't make, which expenses I claimed, and the receipts I lost (and found). It was a beautiful day, and it was such a shame to waste inside fighting with numbers.  A friend of mine had posted pictures of her trip out to the tulip festival last year.  She takes wonderful pictures and they looked so inviting, I told her I would love to go with her, if she decided to go again this year.  To my delight, she asked me if I wanted to go on Saturday. I had slated Saturday to tackle the taxes.  Taxes or Tulips ?  Tulips won. After a pleasant drive out to the northeast, we joined throngs of people who were also avoiding doing anything that loo...