Simply Fabulous Friends

Today, I was feeling pretty low and then something awesome happened. I got a chance to see three of my friends, each at work, doing their thing. Each told me that I looked lousy. Each asked me how I was. One went so far as to ask me repeatedly if I was ok, or maybe sick, or maybe just in need of a vacation. He simply wouldn't let me "get away" with the stat, "I'm fine."

What happened next was awesome. They each helped. Heather, who is a massage therapist worked on my back and wrist and helped take away my pain. But she also made me laugh. We laughed a lot.

At the grocery store, Greg made me laugh too. He mocked my purchases and wouldn't let me leave the store without the flyer's weekly bonus points. It feels great to have a friend who knows me that well and makes the effort to turn my day around.

And Steve took extra special care of a gift, at the print shop on my behalf. The gift recipient will be very pleased. But the bonus gift to me, in this situation, was the few minutes Steve and I talked about how precious children are. He and his lovely wife are expecting a child in mere weeks.  And of course I love my kids very much. It was a great conversation and I left feeling good about my family again.

I also learnt a valuable lesson, overall, today. Wear makeup! Apparently, without it I look like hell. Good to know! LOL  And if your friends can't tell you that.... get new friends.

Quietly I Toil

I haven't "done much" lately according to my family. And since my worth is measured in what I can do for them, it doesn't appear I'm worth much right now.

And it's January. So it's already tough to keep that inner voice of gloom quiet. But I try. Honestly I do. Sometimes they don't realize even how tough it is to get out of bed and take the dogs for a walk, to prepare dinner or to meet my obligations. But whatever, I guess. Everyone has problems. Why should I be any more noticeable?

Our pony went to a new home today. Nobody but me cared. Instead of asking if I was OK, or even ignoring the situation they asked. "When are you getting rid of the other one?" That hurt.

So, I guess today kinda sucked. I'm getting used to days like this. That sucks even more.

Go ahead and laugh

I woke up today and felt terrible. Nothing to blame but a cold or flu creeping in.

My whole body aches and I can barely hold my head up. But there are kids and dogs and a schedule. So after a brief tap of the snooze button I got up. Tylenol, coffee and a little Twitter did its best to wake me up. I didn't find much energy, but I did find the motivation to try.

I dressed in several layers and grabbed my iPod. Then I invited the dogs for a walk. I figured a little fresh air would do me good. The neighbour dog, an overweight, ignored lab came bounding at us. Instead of shooing him away, I invited him to come too. Now that was a happy dog face and tail wag!

We walked for quite a distance. The snow was deep. I was listening to my playlist "pick yourself up and fight." I was motivated. I thought I was feeling decent again. The dogs had the best time! Maybe I was going to just work thru this cold and malaise.

Feeling accomplished, I had one more tylenol and I was off to take the kids to hockey. I was pretty proud of myself for remembering all their equipment, sticks, water bottle etc. I even had granola bars and ipod chargers with me. Yeah, "I rock" I was thinking.

Gosh the drive was nice and roads were good. I was half way to the rink when it hit me.  I had the equipment, but I left the kids at school. Forgot to pick them up.

U-Turn.

Looking to the Future

I've been thinking a fair bit about what my future might look like. Where would I like to be in five years? What will I be doing? Where will I travel? How can I support and be close to my children when they are teens?

Right now I don't have any answers. I have spoken to a few friends who have given me some good advice and others who have helped me reflect on the past five years. It certainly has been an interesting lifestyle owning and operating restaurant. It's fast paced and offers new challenges daily.

Raising kids and animals has a whole other set of challenges. There's not really much I can say other than "stay tuned."

Things I'm working on this year

It's that time of the year to make a fresh start. I'm going to try to work on a few things myself. Putting it on paper makes me more accountable. So here goes:


1. I will try to simplify things whenever possible.

2. I will try to eat brighter coloured, more nutritious food. Things like raspberries and blackberries, dark leafy greens etc. The more NATURAL colour the better.

3. Sleep more

4. Stress less

5. Take better care of my skin.