I am so tired. I have worked 287 hours at my regular job this month, plus my part time job, plus coaching soccer. If I had a minute I would sit somewhere and reconsider what it is I am spending my time on and how to do something different. The only thing is, if I GET a minute and I do sit down I fall asleep within seconds :(
I used to think it was funny when my mom sat in a chair at the end of the day and within minutes was asleep. Not so funny now!
Friday, May 30, 2014
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou passed away yesterday and I was sad to hear the news. What a great woman she was. I feel as though she actually made an impression on my life - as opposed to so many other celebrities whom I enjoy for purposes of entertainment, but who really give nothing more to the edification of my life. I felt that Maya Angelou was a wise and gifted woman whom I actually learned from and whose lessons I think about with regularity.
Since her passing there have been a lot of posts of her quotes on facebook, pinterest, twitter and instagram (the big four social media sites I use). I like all of her quotes of course, but the lesson I learned and the one that will remain with me for all my days is this: " When someone shows you who they are, believe them."
I cannot tell you the number of times I have had encounters with people and they have shown me who they are and I have questioned myself, or my perception of them, only to discover that I have been right - or more accurately, THEY have been right. They SHOWED me and I didn't believe.
Sometimes this is a hard lesson to learn, especially when you love or trust someone who is not worthy of that love or trust, but sometimes it is a beautiful thing to experience - such as when you meet beautiful, kind and loving people who are exactly who they show themselves to be.
Thank-you Ms. Angelou for this lesson which you have given me and which I will never forget.
May the next part of your journey be beautiful.
Since her passing there have been a lot of posts of her quotes on facebook, pinterest, twitter and instagram (the big four social media sites I use). I like all of her quotes of course, but the lesson I learned and the one that will remain with me for all my days is this: " When someone shows you who they are, believe them."
I cannot tell you the number of times I have had encounters with people and they have shown me who they are and I have questioned myself, or my perception of them, only to discover that I have been right - or more accurately, THEY have been right. They SHOWED me and I didn't believe.
Sometimes this is a hard lesson to learn, especially when you love or trust someone who is not worthy of that love or trust, but sometimes it is a beautiful thing to experience - such as when you meet beautiful, kind and loving people who are exactly who they show themselves to be.
Thank-you Ms. Angelou for this lesson which you have given me and which I will never forget.
May the next part of your journey be beautiful.
Monday, May 19, 2014
I Lost My Dead Cat
That's not even a joke. We had such a bad day we even lost the box that our dead cat is in. I know. How is that even possible. I DO NOT KNOW BUT IT HAPPENED TO US TODAY!
Our cat Helios has suffered from urine infections for his whole life. The old man has just been prone to them. He has had a number of blockages and we have dealt with them all, but he is older and got blocked again and was in a lot of pain and would have required painful surgery that would not "cure" him of the problem re-occurring. Shel had to take him to the Vets to put him to sleep the other night.
Shel has had cats that have lived a LONG time - indoor cats, living in a city. Since we have had cats live to be 17 years or more it is hard to compare the long lives they have had with the relatively short life of Helios. (He was still more than 7 years old so I believe he's had a good acreage life). I find the farmers here take a much different perspective on the lives and longevity of their animals. I'm sure they think we are strange at how we lament the passing of our animals.
CJ was devastated and told me that he had never had a chance to teach him how to fetch a ball.
Because we live where we do we are able to bring our pets home and bury them. Shel brought Helios home for us to bury.
This morning our 6 month old puppy, Flames, was hit and killed by a truck. It was absolutely horrendous and I am FUMING mad that the person who killed our dog didn't even have the decency to come and tell us what had happened. There is absolutely NO WAY they didn't know what they did. Our poor Puppy was completely broken. CJ cried and cried and said he didn't get a chance to teach Flames to fetch a ball either. CJ and I WILL teach Brownie how to fetch a ball soon!
We had to dig a grave for Flames today and Helios. We started digging but our yard used to be a gravel pit and digging in the yard is virtually impossible. It sucks.
Before we had a chance to dig a hole large enough to bury the puppy and Helios, we had a grass fire and I had to call 911 because the fire was headed towards the power poles. We had an old shed on the property that was knocked down years ago , before we even moved to the house. We have never completely taken it apart and I had no idea what was in the pile of debris and that was a bit scary. It turns out there were some old tires in the pile which made impressive black clouds of smoke visible from town (about 25km away). When the fire department responded they did so with ALL four trucks - because they could see the smoke from town and thought they had a doozie of a fire on their hands. They were able to put out the fire very quickly (it was not a bad one and there were many of them!) and we proceeded with the burial.
We put Flames into the ground and CJ got a bone for him to be buried with. We got the ashes of Rescue that we have been saving to bury and buried those with a bone. We went to get the box with Helios to put with the puppies and I'll be damned - we cannot find the box.
You know your day has been ridiculously bad when you lose your dead cat. We looked high and low and cannot find that silly box. I told Shel we should probably have smudged today, to get rid of the negative energy. She pointed out that we did smudge - most of our yard.
Our cat Helios has suffered from urine infections for his whole life. The old man has just been prone to them. He has had a number of blockages and we have dealt with them all, but he is older and got blocked again and was in a lot of pain and would have required painful surgery that would not "cure" him of the problem re-occurring. Shel had to take him to the Vets to put him to sleep the other night.
Shel has had cats that have lived a LONG time - indoor cats, living in a city. Since we have had cats live to be 17 years or more it is hard to compare the long lives they have had with the relatively short life of Helios. (He was still more than 7 years old so I believe he's had a good acreage life). I find the farmers here take a much different perspective on the lives and longevity of their animals. I'm sure they think we are strange at how we lament the passing of our animals.
CJ was devastated and told me that he had never had a chance to teach him how to fetch a ball.
Because we live where we do we are able to bring our pets home and bury them. Shel brought Helios home for us to bury.
This morning our 6 month old puppy, Flames, was hit and killed by a truck. It was absolutely horrendous and I am FUMING mad that the person who killed our dog didn't even have the decency to come and tell us what had happened. There is absolutely NO WAY they didn't know what they did. Our poor Puppy was completely broken. CJ cried and cried and said he didn't get a chance to teach Flames to fetch a ball either. CJ and I WILL teach Brownie how to fetch a ball soon!
We had to dig a grave for Flames today and Helios. We started digging but our yard used to be a gravel pit and digging in the yard is virtually impossible. It sucks.
Before we had a chance to dig a hole large enough to bury the puppy and Helios, we had a grass fire and I had to call 911 because the fire was headed towards the power poles. We had an old shed on the property that was knocked down years ago , before we even moved to the house. We have never completely taken it apart and I had no idea what was in the pile of debris and that was a bit scary. It turns out there were some old tires in the pile which made impressive black clouds of smoke visible from town (about 25km away). When the fire department responded they did so with ALL four trucks - because they could see the smoke from town and thought they had a doozie of a fire on their hands. They were able to put out the fire very quickly (it was not a bad one and there were many of them!) and we proceeded with the burial.
We put Flames into the ground and CJ got a bone for him to be buried with. We got the ashes of Rescue that we have been saving to bury and buried those with a bone. We went to get the box with Helios to put with the puppies and I'll be damned - we cannot find the box.
You know your day has been ridiculously bad when you lose your dead cat. We looked high and low and cannot find that silly box. I told Shel we should probably have smudged today, to get rid of the negative energy. She pointed out that we did smudge - most of our yard.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
How Many Times?
We have been foster parents for many years and have had children come and go from our home numerous times. Last October, two of the children we had been fostering for close to two years were returned home under circumstances I did not agree with. It was one of the most difficult experiences we have ever endured. After the heartbreak brought about by the circumstances of the end of this placement we had decided that we would not continue fostering.
We set a date with our case worker to make our decision known to her and for a number of reasons (her illness, our schedules, etc.) this meeting was postponed a number of times and finally scheduled for a day last month.
The day arrived. Our appointment was scheduled for 1pm.
At 8 am we got an urgent call from the worker asking us to return the call immediately. The kids were coming back into care that day and she wanted to know if we would take them. Without any hesitation we did. We have had a great month.
There have been two court dates since then and a third and final scheduled for this week. I have worked REALLY hard to not allow myself to stress over the court dates and to allow for things to happen the way they will - my worry will not change the outcome of these proceeding anyway. This week there is (what I understand to be) a final court proceeding. There is a possibility that circumstances will again take the kids from our home. Two days.
We set a date with our case worker to make our decision known to her and for a number of reasons (her illness, our schedules, etc.) this meeting was postponed a number of times and finally scheduled for a day last month.
The day arrived. Our appointment was scheduled for 1pm.
At 8 am we got an urgent call from the worker asking us to return the call immediately. The kids were coming back into care that day and she wanted to know if we would take them. Without any hesitation we did. We have had a great month.
There have been two court dates since then and a third and final scheduled for this week. I have worked REALLY hard to not allow myself to stress over the court dates and to allow for things to happen the way they will - my worry will not change the outcome of these proceeding anyway. This week there is (what I understand to be) a final court proceeding. There is a possibility that circumstances will again take the kids from our home. Two days.
Friday, May 2, 2014
30 x 30 Nature Challenge
I have signed up.
You should.
For the next 30 days, spend 30 minutes a day in Nature.
Sign up here
I will let you know how it goes!
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