Has there ever been a time in your life when you have said, "Oh I wish I had done that"? Do you ever make a list, whether on paper or in your mind, of things you want to do in your life? Why do we make those lists, why don't we go and just do it? Why do we have to look at the end of our life to decide on things we want to do?
Over the years there have been many things I have said that I want to do in my life. I guess I think that if I write it down, and make it public, I will have to make some of that come true, because in reality, I am the ONLY person that can make them come true.
1. Drive a race car on a race track; and not slowly. Every time I head out to the Laird races I get this feeling inside of adrenaline that makes me want to hop inside and drive. I remember taking my Dad's snow machine out one day and driving it over 100 km/hr. I still remember the feeling of freedom,and thrill. (sorry Dad)
2. Get a tattoo. Now this is going to surprise many many people because if there was anyone out there more afraid of needles, I would like to meet them. I was 16 before I realized that they did NOT have to take blood out of both arms when you got blood work. I clenched so hard that they could not get enough blood out of one arm. But I want to get the kids names tattooed as THEY print them.
3. Para sail. Again I am not a huge height fan, but for some reason this one intrigues me. The thrill of flying! I think deep down I have some love for extreme sports in me (it is pretty deep though).
4. Write a book. I have a children's book in my head and I would love to write it. But it takes guts to put yourself out there to have criticism for something you have always wanted.
Although the list is probably longer, these are the four that pop into my head first and foremost. I am left to assume that subconsciously these are the ones that mean the most to me, or are the ones that I am meant to fulfil.
I guess I need to take some steps to make some of them reality because they are not really that unrealistic, it is not like I picked modelling or anything.
So I think I might open a Word Document and start my story. That's a start isn't it?
Paddling down this river called life!
5.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Signs
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?
I love the lyrics for this song, signs telling us what to do and what not to do all the time. Listen to the stop sign or you will probably get into an accident. Follow the washroom signs or you could be in for a very embarrassing situation. Read the store signs or you could be trying to buy a bra in fishing store.
But what happens when you cannot see the signs? What happens when the sign are subtle, small enough that unless you take the time to really look for them, you will not see them. This seems to be when stress starts to come into our life.
I have been trying to get a job in the teaching field for EVER!! I have also during that time raised 2 wonderful boys. I stressed and stressed and stressed about not having a job until I took the time to look for the signs. When I had my kids I always wanted to be a stay at home Mom. I wanted to be there for them, and enjoy the limited amount of time you have with them when they still like you. However, love does not pay the bills and in this volatile economy and the guaranteed layoffs that happen in my house, I needed a job. So I got one supply teaching. Now for the 7 years I have been doing this I have stressed about it, because at times working half a day a week will not pay the PUC bill. But when I finally looked at the signs I realized something, that although I did not have the full time teaching job that I wanted, I did get the best of both worlds. I got to work in my field, but I got to stay at home too. The sign was subtle, but it was there, I just needed to look for it instead of stressing about it.
Parenting also gives us many signs, sometimes subtle like a kiss for no reason, other times not so subtle like the vomit on the bedroom floor. During the tough times of parenting we need to look for those signs because if not, stress creeps in and we are not the best we can be. Stop, look and listen because I can guarantee that the signs that we are doing the best we can at the time we are in, are there.
Paddling along this river called life......
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?
I love the lyrics for this song, signs telling us what to do and what not to do all the time. Listen to the stop sign or you will probably get into an accident. Follow the washroom signs or you could be in for a very embarrassing situation. Read the store signs or you could be trying to buy a bra in fishing store.
But what happens when you cannot see the signs? What happens when the sign are subtle, small enough that unless you take the time to really look for them, you will not see them. This seems to be when stress starts to come into our life.
I have been trying to get a job in the teaching field for EVER!! I have also during that time raised 2 wonderful boys. I stressed and stressed and stressed about not having a job until I took the time to look for the signs. When I had my kids I always wanted to be a stay at home Mom. I wanted to be there for them, and enjoy the limited amount of time you have with them when they still like you. However, love does not pay the bills and in this volatile economy and the guaranteed layoffs that happen in my house, I needed a job. So I got one supply teaching. Now for the 7 years I have been doing this I have stressed about it, because at times working half a day a week will not pay the PUC bill. But when I finally looked at the signs I realized something, that although I did not have the full time teaching job that I wanted, I did get the best of both worlds. I got to work in my field, but I got to stay at home too. The sign was subtle, but it was there, I just needed to look for it instead of stressing about it.
Parenting also gives us many signs, sometimes subtle like a kiss for no reason, other times not so subtle like the vomit on the bedroom floor. During the tough times of parenting we need to look for those signs because if not, stress creeps in and we are not the best we can be. Stop, look and listen because I can guarantee that the signs that we are doing the best we can at the time we are in, are there.
Paddling along this river called life......
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Ban the Sanitizer!
I have come to the conclusion lately that people worry far too much in this world. You cannot turn on the TV, open a newspaper or read a magazine without there being an article on something we have to eliminate or add to ourselves to make us healthier.
The other day I was in a fast food restaurant and the lady behind me freaked out because the guy behind the counter touched the counter with his gloved hand. She demanded that he change the gloves before he made her burger. Now I understand that there are germs everywhere, but if she thinks that changing the gloves is going to make her more sanitary and eliminate the germs in the world she had better go and buy herself a bubble to live in.
I really do think that we have become a society of germ freaks. How many of you carry hand sanitizer? How many of you take multiple vitamins in a day? How many of you have eliminated or added something to your body because an article told you to? I can bet that many of you have answered yes to at least one of those questions, if not all. Are you really healthier? Are you really warding off all of those nasty bugs out there? I think it is the placebo effect. We are told by the "higher authorities" that we need to watch this, add that, and we do it, and feel healthier. But if we didn't would it be any different?
Some of our issues I believe is that we are so scared of the germs we are not giving our bodies the ability to fight off the bad germs when they do get in. And I hate to break it to you, they are going to get in, you are going to get sick! We wash our hands 5-10 times a day, sanitize our hands the other times, use anti bacterial soap on our dishes, all of those kill those bad germs, however they also kill the good ones too I believe. We are not allowing our bodies the ability to fight off some of these germs, so when we get the major germs we have no chance. We are not giving our bodies any ability to fight!
Would a hockey player make it to the NHL without practice? Nope, he has to practice, practice, practice before he makes it. Our bodies need to practice, practice, practice on some germs, so it can fight off the "big" ones.
Now I am not saying to rush and throw out soap and sanitizer, but let kids be kids. Let them eat the carrots out of the garden without washing them, let them eat a snack without rushing them to the washroom, a chooch can be "sanitized" by a mother's mouth and not a pot of boiling water.
Paddling on down the river of germs with no sanitizer in sight.......
The other day I was in a fast food restaurant and the lady behind me freaked out because the guy behind the counter touched the counter with his gloved hand. She demanded that he change the gloves before he made her burger. Now I understand that there are germs everywhere, but if she thinks that changing the gloves is going to make her more sanitary and eliminate the germs in the world she had better go and buy herself a bubble to live in.
I really do think that we have become a society of germ freaks. How many of you carry hand sanitizer? How many of you take multiple vitamins in a day? How many of you have eliminated or added something to your body because an article told you to? I can bet that many of you have answered yes to at least one of those questions, if not all. Are you really healthier? Are you really warding off all of those nasty bugs out there? I think it is the placebo effect. We are told by the "higher authorities" that we need to watch this, add that, and we do it, and feel healthier. But if we didn't would it be any different?
Some of our issues I believe is that we are so scared of the germs we are not giving our bodies the ability to fight off the bad germs when they do get in. And I hate to break it to you, they are going to get in, you are going to get sick! We wash our hands 5-10 times a day, sanitize our hands the other times, use anti bacterial soap on our dishes, all of those kill those bad germs, however they also kill the good ones too I believe. We are not allowing our bodies the ability to fight off some of these germs, so when we get the major germs we have no chance. We are not giving our bodies any ability to fight!
Would a hockey player make it to the NHL without practice? Nope, he has to practice, practice, practice before he makes it. Our bodies need to practice, practice, practice on some germs, so it can fight off the "big" ones.
Now I am not saying to rush and throw out soap and sanitizer, but let kids be kids. Let them eat the carrots out of the garden without washing them, let them eat a snack without rushing them to the washroom, a chooch can be "sanitized" by a mother's mouth and not a pot of boiling water.
Paddling on down the river of germs with no sanitizer in sight.......
Monday, May 2, 2011
Things parents won't admit to
I have begun to realize (OK I think I realized it the day after Cole was born), but I am coming to a more realistic realization that I am not, nor will I ever be a perfect parent. Here is the difference in my realization, I am OK with it now!
Before kids I thought I would be the parent who knew all the answers, for goodness sake I am a teacher and I have your kids in my hands each and everyday so how hard can it be to be a parent, there is only one child in my house, I teach at times 35 of them. Then I had a baby and realized that I knew nothing about being a parent of a baby, but I could READ it. How often to change them, when they can eat this and that, what to do when they won't sleep? Then the personalities came and one word changed everything I knew, or thought I knew, NO! Now what the heck am I supposed to do? I cannot read what to do now because in there are 10 000 parenting books and each tells me a DIFFERENT thing to try. So I have wrote this to out all of us parents, all of us not-so-perfect parents.
1) I do not want to play with the hot wheels cars on the floor all the time, or the board games, or the crafts, or the hockey sticks.....or or or.....
2) I have been known to say "uh huh" when I have no idea what they have said to me. I will put a disclaimer on this one, this has gotten me into trouble.
3) I have lied about what time it really is just to get them to bed 30 minutes earlier so I can watch a television show (unfortunately this only works until they can tell time, then you have to get more creative)
4) I do not, repeat do not, bath my kids every night, or second night for that matter.
5) If I have forgot to get them to brush their teeth and I already have them tucked into bed, I don't get them up to do it.
6) I let them watch television, at times even when it is nice outside.
7) At times I skip words in books (sometimes pages) that I read them at bedtime.
8) Sometimes I forget to give them lunch on the weekend.
9) I will occasionally let the boys sleep in bed with me because I am too tired to drag them back to bed for the 5th time that night.
10) I have brought the boys shopping in their PJ's because the fight to get them dressed was not worth it.
So there it is, 10 things that not all parents will admit to, but I will, because I AM NOT THE PERFECT PARENT, but I am the perfect parent for my child.
Before kids I thought I would be the parent who knew all the answers, for goodness sake I am a teacher and I have your kids in my hands each and everyday so how hard can it be to be a parent, there is only one child in my house, I teach at times 35 of them. Then I had a baby and realized that I knew nothing about being a parent of a baby, but I could READ it. How often to change them, when they can eat this and that, what to do when they won't sleep? Then the personalities came and one word changed everything I knew, or thought I knew, NO! Now what the heck am I supposed to do? I cannot read what to do now because in there are 10 000 parenting books and each tells me a DIFFERENT thing to try. So I have wrote this to out all of us parents, all of us not-so-perfect parents.
1) I do not want to play with the hot wheels cars on the floor all the time, or the board games, or the crafts, or the hockey sticks.....or or or.....
2) I have been known to say "uh huh" when I have no idea what they have said to me. I will put a disclaimer on this one, this has gotten me into trouble.
3) I have lied about what time it really is just to get them to bed 30 minutes earlier so I can watch a television show (unfortunately this only works until they can tell time, then you have to get more creative)
4) I do not, repeat do not, bath my kids every night, or second night for that matter.
5) If I have forgot to get them to brush their teeth and I already have them tucked into bed, I don't get them up to do it.
6) I let them watch television, at times even when it is nice outside.
7) At times I skip words in books (sometimes pages) that I read them at bedtime.
8) Sometimes I forget to give them lunch on the weekend.
9) I will occasionally let the boys sleep in bed with me because I am too tired to drag them back to bed for the 5th time that night.
10) I have brought the boys shopping in their PJ's because the fight to get them dressed was not worth it.
So there it is, 10 things that not all parents will admit to, but I will, because I AM NOT THE PERFECT PARENT, but I am the perfect parent for my child.
Monday, February 28, 2011
The Scale MUST be Lying
Ever stepped on the scale and had a number in your head that you thought you were going to be. You even give yourself 10-15 lbs so that you will be under and then it won't feel so bad. Well, I did that this morning, and up popped the number.......no!!!!!!! It cannot be! Get off and try again. Same number, there is no way, try again. Damn!!!!
This morning I was trying to make a decision; do I weigh myself and start this journey AGAIN on a negative note? Or do I take the painful number for what it is and go from there? I decided to take it for what it was, a starting point to a life of healthiness, with a side note of skinniness.
So I have day 1 in the books. I think today I have eaten more fruit than I have in the last week combined. Has it been easy? Not when there is a Valentine chocolate that I forgot to eat last night staring me in the face. Not when I am making supper and I am hungry and don't really feel like ANOTHER piece of fruit. But then again this is not going to be an easy journey. Am I going to fall off the boat and eat that "unhealthy food" again? You can be sure. However this time I am going to try and get it in my head that, one trip doesn't mean I stay on the ground for months before I get up again.
So into the boat I go, just leaving the dock.......let the paddling begin.
This morning I was trying to make a decision; do I weigh myself and start this journey AGAIN on a negative note? Or do I take the painful number for what it is and go from there? I decided to take it for what it was, a starting point to a life of healthiness, with a side note of skinniness.
So I have day 1 in the books. I think today I have eaten more fruit than I have in the last week combined. Has it been easy? Not when there is a Valentine chocolate that I forgot to eat last night staring me in the face. Not when I am making supper and I am hungry and don't really feel like ANOTHER piece of fruit. But then again this is not going to be an easy journey. Am I going to fall off the boat and eat that "unhealthy food" again? You can be sure. However this time I am going to try and get it in my head that, one trip doesn't mean I stay on the ground for months before I get up again.
So into the boat I go, just leaving the dock.......let the paddling begin.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Excuses....there are Millions of Them!
Why is it that I can make a million excuses as to why I cannot start a diet? I have all the good intentions on Monday each week for this to be the week to change my eating habits, and in turn my life, and I do it.....until 4pm when I am starving and in my kitchen where there is easy access to food. So I thought for a little laugh I would share some of the excuses I have used as to why I cannot start, or have started and only lasted days (alright, sometimes only minutes) in this life long journey. I hope you can see a little of yourself in them too.
1) It is Thursday! Who starts a diet on Thursday? In reality this can be any day of the week except for Monday, because for some reason Monday is THE day you have to start a diet, any other day just won't work.
2) I am going out for supper with everyone on Tuesday, so I mine as well not start on Monday because my diet will be ruined then. Then look to #1 as to why it is not started until next week.
3) I have my period this week so that won't work.
4) I am busy every night so I have no time to exercise.
5) It's my birthday and who can start then because there is cake, and I am NOT missing cake on my (or for that matter, any ones birthday)
6) I am going to start next week, I don't want to do it this week.
7) Too much stress in my life right now, I NEED chocolate (or any other comfort food) to make it through.
I know there are many more reasons I have given myself, and hope that one day soon I will stop making them, but until then, we always have Monday!
1) It is Thursday! Who starts a diet on Thursday? In reality this can be any day of the week except for Monday, because for some reason Monday is THE day you have to start a diet, any other day just won't work.
2) I am going out for supper with everyone on Tuesday, so I mine as well not start on Monday because my diet will be ruined then. Then look to #1 as to why it is not started until next week.
3) I have my period this week so that won't work.
4) I am busy every night so I have no time to exercise.
5) It's my birthday and who can start then because there is cake, and I am NOT missing cake on my (or for that matter, any ones birthday)
6) I am going to start next week, I don't want to do it this week.
7) Too much stress in my life right now, I NEED chocolate (or any other comfort food) to make it through.
I know there are many more reasons I have given myself, and hope that one day soon I will stop making them, but until then, we always have Monday!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Jetson's of the Present
Have you ever been in a store and seen a child acting up and instead of looking at the parent with condescending eyes, you are relieved that it is not only your child that acts up? In our quest to be the "perfect" parents, we at times need to have a reality check. We will NEVER be the perfect parents so why do we strive to be so hard.
Remember when our parents used to tell us how hard they had it as a child and we used to roll our eyes at them, well I find that I am now doing just what my parents did, and I swore I would never do. Here was the conversation with Jake and Cole this morning:
Jake: Did you have Bell satellite when you were little?
Bruce: No, we didn't even have a TV for a long time.
Me: No, we had a TV that only had channels 2-13 (and 13 was french so you couldn't count that). And you know what? We had to go up to the TV and change the channel with a little nob. You don't know.....
And that is where I stopped and realized, "Oh my gosh, I am becoming my parents". But then I also realized how much "extra" the kids have now. Right now I am sitting in front of my TV typing on my laptop that is wireless, texting messages on my cell phone, and watching the kids play on a console in which they are the controllers.
Not to age myself and have everyone rolling their eyes at me but think of this, when I little we got a Commodore 64 that ran off of cassette tapes and took forever to load a game (and by forever I mean 10's of minutes, not a couple of seconds which constitutes a slow computer now) , the cell phone was on the Jetsons not a "real" thing and your regular phones were hooked into the wall with a curly cord and you had to stand and talk (no walking around with cordless phones).
I look at all this new technology that is coming and am scared as to where it can go from here. If they could come up with the "perfect parent robot" in which they did all the disciplining and we got to enjoy the benefits I am in. Maybe that will be something that my kids will be saying when they are my age, "When I was a kid, my parents actually had to discipline me".
Paddling along this river called life.....
Remember when our parents used to tell us how hard they had it as a child and we used to roll our eyes at them, well I find that I am now doing just what my parents did, and I swore I would never do. Here was the conversation with Jake and Cole this morning:
Jake: Did you have Bell satellite when you were little?
Bruce: No, we didn't even have a TV for a long time.
Me: No, we had a TV that only had channels 2-13 (and 13 was french so you couldn't count that). And you know what? We had to go up to the TV and change the channel with a little nob. You don't know.....
And that is where I stopped and realized, "Oh my gosh, I am becoming my parents". But then I also realized how much "extra" the kids have now. Right now I am sitting in front of my TV typing on my laptop that is wireless, texting messages on my cell phone, and watching the kids play on a console in which they are the controllers.
Not to age myself and have everyone rolling their eyes at me but think of this, when I little we got a Commodore 64 that ran off of cassette tapes and took forever to load a game (and by forever I mean 10's of minutes, not a couple of seconds which constitutes a slow computer now) , the cell phone was on the Jetsons not a "real" thing and your regular phones were hooked into the wall with a curly cord and you had to stand and talk (no walking around with cordless phones).
I look at all this new technology that is coming and am scared as to where it can go from here. If they could come up with the "perfect parent robot" in which they did all the disciplining and we got to enjoy the benefits I am in. Maybe that will be something that my kids will be saying when they are my age, "When I was a kid, my parents actually had to discipline me".
Paddling along this river called life.....
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