School's Out!

This picture was taken last Friday at a field trip I volunteered to drive for and chaperon. It was to the Forestry Museum, one of my favourite places on Earth. The blacksmith shop and re-created forestry camp (that's the mess hall in the picture) are so cool! There is a train that loops around the museum, and stops at either end to get out and wander the exhibits and trails. There is also a wetland preserve on the site and they do educational tours that are chock-full of interesting wetland facts... ah yes, that my idea of a good day, even with a bunch of munchkins under my care.

That was last week.

And this week it's done.

Summer holidays have officially started.

I'd like to say my kids did wonderfully, but it seems to be a struggle for survival every single year.

No excuses, I MUST get Cameron up to grade level for math and reading.
I MUST! Grade 5 will be so very, very difficult if he doesn't have those basic of basics.
(Did you know they don't fail elementary kids in my district? So there is no threat for the kids to even try to put forth the effort, and no repercussions for lazy teaching. High school is a major shock! There are expectations and there is failure there too.)

So I will be the bad guy this summer and force my boys to work. Bad bad bad. I loathe that.

I am still trying to look forward to summer. I usual enjoy the easy rhythm. After all my sister lives close by, my boys are old enough to self-entertain and I wanna go camping!

and the music plays on...

Now I know why I put it off for so long..... I spent a good 8+ hours in front of my computer this weekend backing up my CDs as MP3 onto the computer... OMG that was a mind-numbingly dull chore!

And I only backed up the ones that were mine (hubby's collection is still CD only). With that task out of the way, I found that there are only about 25% of my music that I actually want to keep as CDs... the rest can stay as compressed digital files for my occasional audio entertainment. So my dear friend Spider can sell what she can for her charitable enterprise. (And she can have the new pile of DVDs and fancy clock I culled from the house this weekend too.)

But back to the music....
I then attempted to sort and put the music onto my new-to-me, 1st gen, ipod touch. I already had some itunes store purchases on there, but wanted my own collection too.

I hate itunes.
oh how I hate it.
Hate hate hate hate.

Everyone says it's so "easy" to use... that's BULLSHIT! I have like 6-8 versions of the same song on that freakin list. the stupid "!" column isn't selectable to remove my purged songs, I can't figure out how to select only certain tracks per album to put on the ipod, and the frustration just goes on from there. I was up until everyone else was asleep last night trying to get the songs I want on there. Alas, I was too bamboozled to get it the way I want it (my OLD no-name MP3 player is easy to selct the tracks and put them into folders as I want... AND I can delete them too!). Bah.



So. Shawn. I need a tutorial in itunes ASAP so I don't huck this shiny bit of app-fun across the cul-de-sac into the creek.

Long story short.... on the decluttering front, I have made huge strides forward in reducing my stash of movies and music. Let's focus on the positive here.

More or Less

The aftermath of yesterday's dream spa day is dealing with my purchases. Not a whole lot of them, but still. My goal is LESS and I brought home MORE.

Clothes: 3 new-to-me things = must get rid of 3 things. I chose a blazer with sleeves that are too long, a top that's a bit snug around the tummy and a dress that's always too wrinkly... easy peezy lemon squeezy.

Make-up: 4 brand new things  = must pare down make-up drawer. Choosing the items was easy, I have some ancient lipsticks that are almost used up and a few not-flattering colours of lipgloss. Strangely tossing the lipgloss was a bit difficult because they are almost NEW and full.... but not flattering is not flattering so I have to get over the loss and move forward a little wiser! On the bright side, now that they are binned I won't keep "trying them on" and then wiping them off!

If I can find another item of clothes and maybe even a few more make-up duds I will be good for LESS, and that's what I want... so off I go to dig a little deeper.... wish me luck!

(PS the neverending office bookshelf project is coming along nicely-- I have one EMPTY cubical in my shelving --thats a big deal for me. However the ghost of the messy desk is coming back and leaving piles of papers and books on my desk... I will have to excercise it again very soon!)

Perfectly Pampered

I had a very ,very nice day.

The occassion? Mom sent me and my sister a spa gift certificate last December, and we FINALLY got around to using them!

mmmmm.... lets start the day browsing around a good pharmacy with a good coffee in hand (me and my sister have enjoyed haunting cosmetic sections of pharmacies since we were teens, so it's not as weird as it sounds). Sis helped me selct a very nice new eyeshadow, a lipgloss and a mineral highlight powder (I didn't even know they existed!) all on extreme sale, excellent deals.

ah, I feel pretty!

Next we wandered to my favourite thrift boutique and found a nice handbag to replace the one I recently wore right out and was forced to bin (thank you wolfgrrl for the fine bag and it's years of service- I loved it to death, may it rest in peace). And I found a fun summer dress that my sister said was "made" for me, and a really decent breezy top too! My sis also got a few good quality tops to ad to her closet. I think its more successful thrift shopping with a picky fashionista, she made me put back 3/4 of my finds because she didn't like them on me.

After that mini shopping spree we had lunch at the Tea House that serves the most amazing lunch crepes in existence!

Finally we had to get to our spa appointment, and now it's my favourite spa in the area!!!! The staff was very helpful and the decor was classy and relaxing. We were waited on hand and foot before, during and after our treatments..... sooooo nice! We each had something called an Indian Head Massage administered by a fantastic woman by the name of  "Gypsy". I swear she has magical powers -- that half hour massage put me in a transcendental state (I have never before had any complete relaxation like that while clothed and sober)! She said she loves her job (and it comes through in her touch believe me). I will see her again, oh yes, I will.

Now I feel soft, smell good and I'm feeling better than good.

Then my sis and I had side-by-side deluxe pedicures. But this isn't some hokey row of vibrating chairs with dumb jetted foot tubs, instead we were soaked in hot stainless steel bowls of some fantastic herbal smelling stuff, then put on heated reclining tables covered in soft blankets and a warm neck pillow, and brought water and tea as we chatted with each other and our delightful pedicure ladies. Nice leg and foot massages, complete callous treatment, cuticle cleanup, filing, buffing, pretty-polishing, mousturizing -- they even waxed the tiny hairs off our toes!! I didn't even know I had hair on my toes!!!

Baby, I gots sum purdy soft tootsies now! Yu-huh!

Good thing my son offered to cook dinner, I was feeling no hunger, in fact I was feeling nothing but BLISS when I got home.... I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful day, but THANK YOU UNIVERSE for making it so!

Not as Easy as it Sounds

I have been watching the wild strawberries grow and bloom in eager anticipation of a bountiful harvest of tiny, flavour explosions! This morning was the perfect day for berrypicking ... slightly overcast, not windy... after walking my youngest up to the school I trekked out into the woods with my bucket eyes peeled for tiny treats.

One and a half hours later, this is what I had gathered:

Pretty pathetic, eh? They are very hard to find, and unfortunately for me I wasn't the only one anticipating strawberries this year! Creatures had already been there, not many left for big fumbling bipeds to find!

But all was not lost, I did collect some superb Salmon berries

And sweet wild rose petals too!

My strawberry walk was a bust (almost) but it was alovely day to be scrounging around on meadow floors, tromping over moss, avoiding stinging nettles, brushing cobwebs off my hands and startling sunning garter snakes. My hands were right in the thick of it, and that was a good experience!

Yesterday I harvested 4 healthy bullrushes to try marinating some in lemon juice and salt (like palm hearts)

Tough Decisions

I mentioned before that I found a prettier and more size-apporopriate (smaller) dresser/nightstand for my side of the bed. In that same post I mentioned that the old dresser had no home. And that the stop-gap placement in my office was a terrible idea!

I think I have a solution! It looks pretty good here....

BUT it means making a tough decision. It means I have to get rid of my beloved chaise.... (honestly always MUCH too big for my house.... but comfy) In this picture it's smack dab in the middle of the Family Room...

I could SELL IT and just live with it in the way until it's gone, or I could let my sister have it and know that I could get it BACK if I regretted my decision....
Either way... I get to oust the useful-but-very-dangerous chest that I was using to store the videos before. I loved the size and height of it, and I thought the "distressed look" was cool, but OMG the broken hinges combined with razor-sharp, hammered brass trim made for many an "OUCH!" whilst searching for movies!!!!

You are outta here useful-but-very-dangerous chest!

I feel good about this. Two less large items, same storage capacity, more visual breathing room in my family room too.

Say Hello to My little Friend.

As a child I didn't want to be scared of spiders, but I just couldn't help it.  It didn't matter that I KNEW they were tiny and helpless compared to me and that the very worst thing they could do was give me an itchy bite... it went waaaay beyond logic.

Then I got a necrotizing spider bite on my ankle as a young adult.  It was gross and I had to go on antibiotics to stop the sore, pulpy, purple area from growing.  Instead of fearing these creatures more, I decided to find out about these creepy crawlies, and discovered there are only 2 spiders in my part of the globe that can hurt me in the least.  The brown recluse (that gave me my ugly wound) and the infamous black widow that could make me sick but not likely kill me unless I was already weak.  I also discovered that it was a total fluke that I got bit in the first place, they are called "recluse" for a reason, so I obviously stuck my foot in a long-stored boot in the basement to get bit....(note to self, shake out anything stored in dark, cool places before sticking body parts inside!) Still cautious, but much better informed, I had called a truce with our arachnid cohabitants.

But then I had a dream.... and that was the exact moment when I was no longer afraid of Spiders -- especially jumping spiders. In the dream I had a jumping spider as a pet, it was the size of a young puppy, and had all the personality and frolicking a puppy would have AND in the dream I loved this spider as any sweet, furry pet should be loved. A short dream that changed my perspective forever!

So, say hello to my litte friend! Out on a stroll in search of lunch, she was just as shocked as I was to discover she was walking on a big animal... I gently lifted her off my shirt and let her explore my hand... she doesn't want to bite me, she just wants to use her very good vision to find a way off of me!

  Isn't she adorable with her itty-bitty, bright eyes and dainty, fuzzy feet?

She was waving her fore-feet frantically at me, so I let her walk off my hand onto the gazing ball in my garden.

There is a special place in my heart for my garden's jumping spiders (the giant house spiders, not so much--their vision is terrible and they are dreadfully stupid about biting)

Hyper focussed

What happens when a person starts to let other things slide just so they can keep feeding a new found passion? I think they call that addiction, so I better watch out.

I am very focussed on the concept of minimalism right now, so focussed in fact that I think of little else. I read the blogs, lay in bed dreaming of bare walls and spacious cupboards, and torment myself regularly when I bring things home.

I'm not getting very far, but I am OBSESSED with getting farther!

My work is suffering. I have some contracts to do, but it's really hard to be creative when your mind is already preoccupied! I can't design an Irish Concert themed poster when I want to declutter the mixing bowls, or find the perfect colours for a health suppliment logo when my desk is getting paper piles again!

I have 2 choices.... let my jobs be late and purge until the fever subsides, or keep struggling creatively and putting out "passable" work to keep the money rolling in.

Hmmm......
Actually now that I see it in black and white, it's pretty obvious!
I'll be shutting off my computer for a couple hours to get purging, then I MUST buckle down and get these projects to my clients! My career needs me to be sharp and happy to do well...

(PS, School is almost done for the year! The highschooler only has 1 more day and 2 exam days, the Elementary boy only has a week and a half left.  I love summer with the kids now that they are older!)

What are my Dreams Trying to Tell Me?

Most of the time my dreams come and go, evaporating as I rub the sleep from my eyes. Sometimes they will linger into waking long enough to give me some thought, and occasionally they haunt me all day.

Night before last I had a dream that I had to drive my truck down to the harbour to pick up my family. It was night, the streets were crowded and narrow and even steeper than usual... but worse, the truck's brakes were not working properly!!!! Sweating bullets I navigated my old, huge, club-cab, 4x4, domestic beast down the streets and pressed the brake pedal with all my might (and both feet). Narrowly missing stopping cars and pedestrians and light standards. I woke up exhausted and sure that there was no way I would have finished that event unscathed. I calmed myself that it wasn't a realistic scenario and fell asleep.

Then last night I had a similar dream. But this time it was my car. I had just finished a meeting with a new industrial client, the exit from the compound was muddy and pot-holed and I couldn't see past the dump truck weigh station properly to merge from the office to the exit onto the main highway (it's a detailed stress inducing dream I'm having!) My windows were a little foggy from the damp air, and through the soles of my dressy shoes I somehow couldn't feel the pedals properly... a recipe for frustration and panic. I decide that my car is brilliant even if I'm not and blindly bolt past the incoming lane, and the weigh station off ramp (crossing my fingers there is no dump truck moving my way). I intended on coming to a full stop at the exit gate stop sign that leavies the compound onto the highway... but my dull feet couldn't find the brakes!!! My foot jabbed right to the floor missing the pedal entirely! So I panicked, not wanting to get T-boned or rear ended as I roll quickly towards the highway! I plant my foot to the floor with the accelerator and hold the wheel bracing for anything. BUT... this is where it goes really sour.... As I peel off the gravel and onto the pavement, I feel a thump and kick of the back wheels, I have run OVER something with mass. And THEN in a blur out the side windows, I see the pack of workers that had just gone off-shift and were waiting for their rides by the highway. In that spit second, I assume the worst, and swerve once again searching for the brake pedal with both feet this time. The dream ends with extremem duress climbing up my throat as I careen helplessly into the ditch, I am convinced that my haste has just ruined (or ended) someones life . As  I wake sweaty and pumped with adrenaline, I remember seeing that many of the pedestrians have work bags with them... maybe I ran over one of the big duffel bags? The only way to fall back asleep is to convince myself that if the dream had continued, I would have been thoroughly yelled at by the irate owner of a crushed bag of safety equipment... ya that's it, my car would have been damaged and I'd have to replace stuff... now please go back to sleep.

I tell you what. It's hard for me to get into the driver's seat after such vivid ill-omened ,dreams!

But what does it all mean? What am I so afraid that I can't stop? Why is the momentum of my machines beyond my control in the nocturnal musings?

(They're just dreams, they're just dreams, they're just dreams)

Mortally Embarrassing Dog Behaviour

I took my stupid dog out for a bike ride this morning (My hero, the Dog Whisperer recommends the dog run alongside your bike for the best real excercise)... anyhow, he's having the time of his furry life, and is very well behaved beside the bike. However we met up with a friendly fellow dog owner near the end of our ride... and then something completely ridiculous happened! I guess my dog was distracted, and excited over seeing this pretty female Yellow Lab... maybe there was too much happy excercise adrenalline (?) because while sniffing at her, he LIFTED HIS LEG AT THE OWNER! Max PEED on his leg and foot!

I could have died.... stupid dog... stupid male dog...
ugh.

How can I recover from that? What can I do to make ammends?!

Other than sputtering "I'm sorry" repeatedly and making a hasty retreat, (which I did) I didn't know what to do!!!!

I know where he lives, should I take him some beer? Doggie treats? Offer to do his luandry???

More wild foods

I learned something yummy today!

The common Bulrushes (or Cattails) are edible!
I had heard about it, so I had to try for myself (of course)

Today on the way home from picking up Cami from school,  I pulled one out of the muck, peeled of the outer layers and snapped off a crisp 9 inches of clean, bright white stalk. I sniffed it tentatively... smells like garden fresh cucumber! So I tried it and I liked it!

But I cautiously waited a while before eating more than a nibble. It's been my experience with wild plants that sometimes the initial taste can be pleasant but the aftertaste can haunt for ages. This crisp gift is no exception... the first nibble tastes like cucumber sweet and refreshing, but the aftertaste is more like a very mild spanish onion, sweet and savory at the same time... I think it will be very very good in salads! Very good indeed.

Suddenly with this new knowledge, the acres of weland I cross on my way to and from the school have something more to offer than just gorgeous scenery and birdsong!

My "Space Race"

I have mentioned before that I follow some very helpful blogs that focus on Simplicity, Decluttering and Minimalism. I also follow a couple of financial blogs about living within your means and a bit of frugality too.

For me, these are things I already know in my heart. These tips and directions affirm my goals and confirm my deep seated beliefs about how my life should look and run. I can't stress enough how valuable they are to me to keep me on track and keep me motivated to move forward!

My "Space Race" is finding space in my life for the things I find most important: Family, Friends, Beauty, Meaningful Meals. It's also about getting to those important goals by not having to deal with the things I don't like: Debt, Cleaning, Being Overworked. It's a race only because things keep coming in at an alarming speed, and it takes constant mindfulness to keep everything from getting ahead of me again.

It has been marvellous to find the connection between my "stuff" and my "time". Stuff takes time to acquire, time to clean, time to store, time to maintain, time to find (amidst all the other stuff) and time to get rid of too. BUT once it's gone -- well it's time is up, and that time can be freed for better things. It was a revelation to recognize my times of aquisition were connected to stressful, uncertain times in my life. Just like that hag in the childrens' movie "Labrynth" my stuff surrounded me like a security blanket... a protective shell against uncertainty and want and I was bending under the weight of it. But I woke up from that fear, and found that the things I carry INSIDE ME are far more powerful! It's my inner strength that will get me through to tomorrow, not my outer trappings. And it's the experience, knowledge and helpful attitude that will make it possible to face future perils with fortitude and confidence -- not the crap tucked away in my cupboards.

I haven't abandoned all my cautious/paranoid collecting though... you just have to look in my pantry to know I am not going to let my family starve if an Earthquake cuts us off from grocery stores for a while. As a population, we have been told that 98% of the food we eat on our massive, floating rock called Vancouver Island comes from somewhere else, and that when the "big one" hits (like it did in Japan such a short while ago), we will be on our own for some time - without food. In fact, they say grocery stores only have enough stock to feed us all for about 3 days. We have created a serious dependence on imports for even our most basic needs.

I have moved to fresher staples lately, but I still have to back-up dinner supplies...
EG: my version of "conveneince food"= spaghetti sauce noodles and a can of mushrooms -- 10 minutes till dinner no matter what happened earlier in the day! And I can make emergency meals for quite awhile even after we have hurriedly feasted on the contents of the fridge and freezer for about a week.

But back to my "Space Race".... Julie Morgentsern has a cool acronym: S.P.A.C.E. (I've paraphrased it here)
Sort: No matter what you are organizing, from papers to clothes to toys, start by grouping similar items just to see what you have.
Purge: Now, going pile by pile, review the contents, asking yourself of each item: “Do I use this? Do I love this?” If you answer yes to either question, keep it. If no, out it goes.
Assign a home: Decide precisely where you’re going to store each category of keepers. Be specific when assigning homes.
Containerize: Containers allow you to beautify your system.
Equalize: A well organized room takes no more than five minutes to clean up at the end of each day no matter how messy it gets.
Combining this easy to remember to-do list with a clear goal or "dream" for my space (and life) and it has a terrific chance of success!

My journey continues today.

I like foraging.

The weather was lovely and I was feeling seized up my spine, so we walked to school this morning -- (oh man, my back is in serious spasm this morning!)

Lucky me though, the trail was clear and the SALMON BERRIES ARE READY!

Some people find them a lttle too bitter to want to eat, I have always liked how they taste REAL and how they are FREE to anyone that wants them, just waiting on the sides of the local wooded trails near water.

Today, I happened upon an unlikely but delicious pairing of flavours:

Mmmm... for some unexplicable reason, eating the lush, fresh petals of the wild rose before eating the salmon berries makes everything perfect! The perfume in the rose mellows out the bitter in the berries and brings out the tart tang of them, and the tart tang mellows out the perfume flavour of the petals. It's a win-win flavour combo for a sunny Spring snack on the go!

I love foraging for snacks as I walk.

My baby is 10...

... So we took him and some friends to climb some trees.

The weather was great and everybody had a blast...

Especially the Birthday Boy!

Forward and back

Forward: I went through my National Geographics collection and immediately pared down about 1/2. As I read the remainder of them, I'm sure I'll remove more.

Forward: Out table shopping with my sister at the second hand shops on Monday I stumbled across a TREASURE of a cabinet. It was exactly the size I was looking for to replace a dresser beside my bed that is way too tall for the space. Originally a china cabinet, the top part was in bad shape, but the bottom is exquisite -- I talked him down to $50 and LOVE the way it looks in the space I intended it for, and it fits my PJs (which is it's primary function) I couldn't be happier with my find.

Back: But now I need a home for the other dresser. I like the look and usefulness of it, but I don't seem to have another spot for it in the house. I made the mistake of putting it in my office "for the time being" but it's just too big there, and I'm trying so hard to STREAMLINE my workspace! It would be useful for storing movies so I that I could get rid of the dangerous wood chest in there, but it simply doesn't FIT... the only solution -- that keeps with my dream of space -- is to sell or donate it.

Forward: In the livingroom I traded an end table for a small antique magazine rack. Wow, what a difference getting rid of that ONE thing did! My sister happily scooped up the table so no worrying about what to do with that piece.)

Three steps forward, one step back. Not too bad for a day's work.