Invitations, Rentals and a Steamin' Hot Car

The morning has taken on a life of its own with little time left to write.

Final invitation emails and text messages for a family gathering have been sent. I labor over these things more than I should. Thankfully I started formulating my thoughts yesterday morning. I finished them up and sent them off this morning.

My invitations have been fairly well received so I believe it would make for a more leisurely afternoon/evening of visiting if ample tables and chairs are provided. I found some. They are available. There is the small detail of delivery though. It's those small details that trip you up, isn't it?

I was turning off on my way home from work last night when I smelled a "poof" of antifreeze; followed by smoke (I believe it was steam but my heart felt "smoke"). I fear I may have let my antifreeze reservoir run dry (my bad!!! - no excuse for that) but I got the car to my friendly, neighborhood mechanic to ensure I didn't ruin anything by driving a few more minutes (and to double check my diagnosis). This may or may not end well ..

So much to do ... so little time to squeeze it all in.

I could have been on holidays this week. Sigh.

Yesterday

What happened to the weekends I wasted away doing a lot of nothing? I don't know if I miss them or if this whole "sense of accomplishment" thing is becoming addictive.

My original plan was to be on holidays this week. My hope was to have all the house/yard exterior maintenance complete so I could simply sit back and admire where things are at.

I had visions of the house and garage exteriors being taken care of, sitting back and seeing nothing but the unstained deck and dead grass. Well, Mother Nature did her part and the grass is holding its own. So I kept up my end of the bargain and did my part too.

The deck (I decided a second coat was required) is done. Again.

I picked up some deck revival product to prepare the fence boards for staining. I decided to try out the product on a weathered eleven year old bench we have. I should have taken a before picture. But I didn't. Here is the "after" shot. It looks brand new again: 

Fueled with enthusiasm from this successful project, I decided the gate and small fenced area by the back door would be a manageable task. Here is a before/after picture of what this product can do. The dark grey section between the gate and the rest of the fence is what the entire area looked like before:

Here is the completed job outside the yard. Ready, waiting and thirsty for a coat of stain:

I came in at the end of a long day outside, made supper, had a shower and vacuumed cat hair. There was a time (perhaps last month) when a day like this would most definitely be an excuse not to cook. What is happening to me?!?

If only I was on holidays this morning, I could simply sit back and admire the efforts of a rather productive long weekend. Holidays? I am so ready for you. Maybe next weekend.

The Wonders of Nature

We were driving home from the lake yesterday afternoon and I spotted a flock of pelicans. I felt the awe of the moment and shared my amazement with my son. 

My youngest son is a pretty stoic guy and the word "excited" does not describe his nature the vast majority of the time. I believe he quietly shakes his head with some of my observations and the wonders of the world around us. His comment to me was that having a daycare sure made me appreciate nature.

My response to him came easy and is 100% what I believe. "That is what I loved about my daycare days. There is nothing like seeing the world through the eyes of a child, noticing things for the first time."

I remember the time my oldest son and I were camping with literally nothing around us but nature. We noticed an industrious colony of ants. I have the greatest admiration for those hard working insects. During my daycare days, I fondly remember the number of times we would stop a walk in progress to marvel at the load a tiny ant had on its back. 

Up and coming easily amazed children gave me an excuse to stop and marvel at the smallest of things. 

I spent Saturday morning outside breathing in the day with our cats. I have numerous pictures of our cats enjoying the day (though I wasn't fast enough to capture our senior cat in residence as he noticed/chased the small moths in the grass and the kitten I saw in his actions), but it was the bird calls that caught my attention.

This chatty robin seemed to be keeping his eye on the activity within our yard and was sending out warnings to all his friends and family that there were cats on the loose:

There was more than one bird in this tree at the time I took the picture. I wondered if I would be able to zoom in and find it in a Where's Waldo kind of way. Here is a close up to the chatty robin:

As my family canoed and kayaked on the lake yesterday, I was lucky enough to get to sit on the beach and simply marvel at the world around me. Once again, I have an arsenal of pictures of my family on the water but I got that feeling of child-like awe when I spotted a pelican:

The pelican never got any closer but thanks to modern technology, I could zoom in on him too:

I have offered to spend some time out at my son's farm and oversee their two dogs, two rabbits and twenty two cats while they go on vacation. As we visited yesterday, I had my eyes on the nature-viewing spots on their deck and found myself anticipating this upcoming retreat and quiet oasis away from it all.

There is truly nothing like looking into the landscape and taking in the wonders of nature. I just wish it didn't include ticks!

Peaceful Easy Feeling

I am stepping into the day with a "peaceful easy feeling" ...

The melody to the song the Eagles made famous wafted through my mind. I mindlessly looked up the lyrics to see if there was more to the music than the melody. And there was.

" 'Cause I got a peaceful easy feelin'

And I know you won't let me down

'Cause I'm already standin'

On the ground "

~ Songwriter Jack Tempchin ~

These lyrics speak loudly to the way I feel about life as I know it.

I listen to the world around me, those who stand on their platforms and spew negativity, those who skew the truths of the world around them and focus on the negative and basically the words that cycle through my consciousness and plant seeds of doubt and infect my thoughts. 

I keep coming back to this "peaceful easy feeling". Others won't let me down. Because I'm already standing on the ground.

I feel grounded. I feel rooted in family, friends and community. I have faith that everything will work out okay. I feel safe, secure and happy within the world I live in. I'm already standing on the ground.

I hope to spread this feeling and infect others with this peaceful easy feeling. It is one small way I hope to make a mark within this world I live in.

May the ground beneath your feet feel solid, safe and comforting. May you have a peaceful, easy day.

Think Horses, Not Zebras

It has been a productive week. It's amazing what adding a few hours onto the end of one's day can produce.

I stained the entire deck in the after supper &/or after work hours of the past week. I didn't have to go to my second job yesterday so I put in some extra hours at my first job and accomplished so much.

I have woken up in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep for three straight nights. All work related. I was certain last night my mind would be at rest and I'd sleep through the night with ease. I was wrong.

I left work with two unsolved mysteries. One of the mysteries was where in the world did I put something I just saw a few days ago?

I worked through and filed away almost everything in my basket. I went through everything page by page. Nothing.

I recreated what was missing to the best of my ability. But I was still missing a letter that arrived by mail (a person certainly gets accustomed to having access to an email back up copy of things). I was mystified and disappointed.

"Where did I put it?!?" I lamented to my boss. She reassured me that it was here somewhere. Nothing walks out the door but some days it sure feels like there is a gremlin in our midst as something we just had in our hand disappears in plain sight.

The entire week felt like a blur. I dealt with month end and quarterly types of deadlines. Payroll, GST, reconstructing an account, tail ends of an enormous task that has overtaken our weeks and so much more. All I could think, is that I must have accidentally picked up this paperwork and accidentally filed it away with something I had been working on this week.

"I just had it in my hands!" What did I do with it?

I would come back and look another day. Hours after my usual quitting time, I packed it up and headed off into the weekend. Not a bad day at the office. But those two unsolved mysteries plagued my sleep last night.

Then ... POOF!! The moment my eyes opened for the day this morning, I knew where the missing paperwork was. I filed it where it belonged. I remember thinking "I don't want to lose this so I'll file it so it doesn't get misplaced."

Who would have guessed? Look in the file.

Sometimes the hardest questions have the simplest of answers.

As they say on Grey's Anatomy: "We teach residents, when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras. It means that the most obvious answer is usually right."

Ahhh!! It has been a busy and fulfilling week. I am going to pour myself a second cup of coffee and enjoy a quiet morning at home.

Ahhh ... Life Feels Good This Morning

It is 7:45 a.m. and all's well...

A morning thundershower has descended upon us: 

The power went out for a few minutes. I was all ready to settle in and savor a morning without the hum of electronics, connection and all the white noise of the world. But it didn't last.

I've tended to all life's little needs, all excess tabs and Windows are closed on the computer. My month end banking is taken care off. The table is clear and I'm ready to roll with the day.

I need a clean slate as my starting point in whatever project I must tackle. The bigger the project, the higher my need for organization. 

I'm feeling very calm at home these days. Now I just need to go and recreate this feeling at work. A lot has been piling up in the busyness of the past several months. I need to find some "zen" there too.

Wrinkles

If ever there was a morning that went completely awry, this would be it.

I was awake for the day by 5 a.m.; out of bed by 5:30; no cats were sleeping in this morning so I stripped the bed and washed sheets; I showered; I tended to all my morning chores and thought I was so ahead of the game I would be out the door bright and early.

Then came the wrinkles.

Forty five minutes on the phone with our home security company. I transferred money to the wrong account. I looked out the window to admire our freshly stained deck boards and the morning dew made it appear it may need to be restained (?!?); I had trouble signing into all of my financial accounts ...

Nothing major. Just lots of little wrinkles in the system.

After all is said and done, I accomplished a lot this morning. Wrinkles and all. So much so, that I am wondering if I should go away for this unexpectedly free weekend.

Looks good at a distance but ...

... close up is up for debate.

Here is hoping now that all the wrinkles have been ironed out in my day this far, I can enjoy some smooth sailing at work. I'm so ready for that.