bye bye 2013

I shocked that 2013 is over, it flew by so fast that I wonder what it all meant.

Time to re-visit my resolutions from last year, time to do the last invoices for my business and see how our household finances compare to year's past…. I feel good about it actually.

2013 Resolutions Report Card: 

MORE; 
reading, C- (not as much as I was hoping)
writing, C+ (definitely MORE but not lots)
billable hours, B+ (very good effort!)
time teaching my kids, D (I didn't apply my energy!)
learning, C (learning software upgrades)
vegetables, B+ (yay!)
whole foods, B+ (good improvement)
housecleaning, C+ (some improvement, a ways to go)
walks, A (rain or shine and dragging anyone that will go)
yoga, F (I think I went once all year)
time for friends, B- (more phone calls, more lunches)
kindness, B (the kids are seeing a less judgmental me)
time outside, A (gardening, walking, chickens, dog!)
patience, B (it seems to go with the kinder me)

LESS; 
dairy, A+ (almost done with it except aged cheeses)
fructose, B+ (it sneaks in rarely)
excuses, B+ (good improvement!)
processed foods, A- (I read ingredients)
shopping, C+ (slightly better than last year)
criticism, B (more kindness)
procrastination, D (still prone to leaving unpleasant things to the last second)
TV, F (time-sucking box of doom)
food hoarding, C+ (good effort up to about a month ago)
chaos C+ (there is less, but still room to improve)

As far as resolutions go I think I made progress in a decent amount of areas! I'm so glad to have done this and I will certainly continue.

2014 Resolutions:

MORE: time outside, wholesome food, gardening, billable hours, kindness, learning, housecleaning, patience, quiet time, time for loved ones, creating art, respecting my health

LESS: chaos, processed foods, useless stuff, procrastinating, consumption, pushing my opinion, TV

What I want to accomplish for the year: A comfortable, safe environment to live and work for myself and my dear family through good nutrition, clean home, loving attitude, calm listening and healthy habits.

Bucketlist update.

Last time I updated my bucket list was August 2009.... for shame that it's been this long!

If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you've got there?

People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan... you know what I am talking about...

Life is what you make it, so the list is an essential road map. I FIRMLY beleive that I can change my map as I want, it helps give me the freedom to decide NOT to complete some of these goals and the freedom to make NEW goals at anytime.

A few of the goals (in no particular order):
get a drivers license
get a motorcycle license
learn to safely load, aim, fire and clean a rifle
eat veggies from my own garden
make jam
move out on my own and not move back
post-secondary education that actually leads to a paying career!
shave my head
have a "bad" boyfriend for fun
marry a good man

keep my friends dear to my heart
learn to cook intuitively
have a dog, and train him properly
make money being creative (not a starving artist!)
buy a house
start a savings regime
have kids
be a work-at-home mom
have a will
touch ancient architecture
walk on cobblestones that existed even before Christianity
see real treasures and luxury (the Vatican was excessive)
dip my feet in the Mediterranean Ocean
stay in Venice
eat good, local food on another continent
grocery shopping in a non-english shop
learn to love camping
have a job that involves needing steel-toe boots and reading blue-prints
pilot a plane (okay it wasn't really on my list, but Bean MADE me take controls on the little plane one time, so I count it)
see real dinosaur fossils
Disneyland with my kids
eat all I want on a cruise ship
cross the Atlantic
see the frozen North (through a tiny airplane window, but I SAW it!)
see an active volcano (also through a tiny airplane window, but I SAW it!)
ride in a helicopter
ride in a tiny float plane (I love this and have done it a few times now)
catch a fish and eat it
learn what wild plants are edible in my area
see original art done by a "master" of the Renaissance
hack my hair off for charity
visit England (my father's homeland) and see my only British relative in Cornwall
see a live, professional sports event (it was basketball, and it was awesome)
go to a huge rock concertGo to a real costume ball (where you have to wear huge gowns and powdered wigs)
Play the Cello (so far I have found a few chords on a guitar, I'm feeling good about that)
Go to the East coast of Canada by train
Ride a motorcycle down to Pebble Beach to see the annual car-show
Design my own house
Invent something and have it go to production
See Aztec or Mayan pyramids
publish something
retire comfortably
pay off my mortgage
create fine art as a hobby
tour north america in an RV
live off the grid (does camping for 2 weeks count?)
live in the wilderness (like a pioneer) for one year
Design a car
go to Japan
go to Hawaii with my family
jump out of a plane

okay, I know some of these are FANTASIES more than goals, but I'm putting them on there 'cause it's MY list.

If I had a Million Dollars...

My all-time favourite "BareNaked Ladies" song, and a fun exercise for me!

If I had $1 million....I would have a summer house that was breezy and serene.... with lots of natural materials. It would be clean, sparse and calming on the inside, thought-provoking and magical outside.

With a small fountain and pond greeting you at the front entrance....

I'd have a courtyard outside my bedroom....

And a bookcase down the hall...

And a deep bathtub with a view...

With a shaded walled garden.... with leafy green paths with portals to beauty around every corner...

 

 

Indoors opening to the outdoors without obstruction...

A bedroom with a reading place in the window...

A generous amount of light, space and flow....

 

(My winter house would be different, more traditional western design.)

Right on the mark

I think the BEST way to learn respect for anything is to be well educated with it. I don't just tell my kids "don't do drugs". I tell them what happens in the body when taking them, what it costs our society, how unpredictable the results can be, how ignorance gets people in trouble with the law, and then I drive them downtown and show them the tragedy of what long term drug use can turn a person into. Not pretty, not fun, not smart.

That is why I encourage my boys riding their bicycles (hand eye coordination and cause and effect are very quickly learned on wheels). I think real life is more valuable than videogames (even though more and more careers rely on computer knowledge). It's also why I embraced dirtbiking for us as a family. Respect for the complicated workings of an internal combustion engine, (and the cost of maintenance) clutch, brakes, emergency avoidance maneuvers... my boys will be well educated by the time they are 16 in these areas.

Another thing I really want them to be smart with is firearms. Don't panic, there isn't a big gun-toting problem around here.... I just think things like being SMART around firearms is better than being blissfully ignorant with only video game representation experience. T's brother hunts, guns are a big part of his outdoorsmanship. I think learning to SAFELY aim, shoot and care for something as regulated as a rifle is a good life lesson on so many levels. I loved target shooting as a kid, I loved the HARSH inflexible rules of gun handling, and I loved oiling and cleaning such a precision instrument. And you know what? I think it made me less afraid of a gun weilding boogeyman.

We decided this year we'd try to get a family membership to the Rod and Gun Club. They have all sorts of cool survival camps and teach bow shooting as well as firearm shooting in a controlled environment.
I feel good about it. Knowledge is power.... if my kids aren't great in the school world, at least they can be well prepared for everything else that I can think of.

Books I am reading

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbar Kingsolver

I have learned a lot about the trials and rewards from eating from your own soil. It is an inspiring and daunting notion, but it encourages me to eat foods from "closer to home" and keep my mini-veggie plot goin and growing! I have ideas for year round crops now, and I'd love to keep chickens one day.

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan

Same sort of idea, mindful injestion. Keeping educated where the foods we eat come from, being really concerned about what sacrifices are made to have the foods we want all year round. So far I am 2/3rds through it. It's just one of those books that's making me THINK, so I'm taking my time with it. If ignorance is bliss, I should be feeling miserable

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

A different spin on post-apocolyptic story. Pharmaceutical mega-corporations have redesigned the world and are now the only ones wealthy and powerful enough to run it... complete with policing, health and all avenues of employment.... the only ones even trying to resist are religious zealots, one group obsessed with all-natural living and self-sourced gardens (again with the mindful food connection!), but even they are under fire eventually. What happens after the pharmas lose control of EVERYTHING?

That plot was very interesting and the characters were engaging. I liked the present/flashbacks timeline mixed with the poems and songs. I could relate with the book and it's primary concerns for where this modern world is heading with our blind consumption of pharmaceuticals and processed foods. In typical Atwood style, it was a little uncomfortable to read. But that's a good thing sometimes, right?

Makers, by Cory Doctorow

(I just found out it has a free download if you are interested. )

The story followes a group of a group Doctorow characterizes as being composed of "people who hack hardware, business-models, and living arrangements to discover ways of staying alive and happy even when the economy is falling down the toilet."  Written as not too far into the future, mega-empire companies like duracell or kodak can't exist anymore, it's the little guys, the freelance inventors that are keeping consumerism moving worldwide. But even that doesn't work for long, so these characters exist by finding ways to express themself, to survive and even thrive creatively.

Being a creative person myself, this book appealed to me. It would be very very cool to make something that everyone wants, even temporarily! And the extremely casual lives these characters have is so BRAVE to me!

NEXT ON MY READ LIST:

Never too Late, by Gail Vaz-Oxlade
A guide to taking control of money for retirement. I'm a big Gail fan (I read her blog everyday) so I was tickled pink to get her book for Christmas!

One Year to an Organized Life, by Regina Leeds
It promises... "From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good" also a Christmas present!

Also, I have a HUGE pile of recreational reading to go through, I'm not kidding, it's a really BIG, TALL pile!... Eat, Pray, Love is something I am particularly looking forward to.

Today Creativity Sparkles

One wonderful side effect of feeling in control of my space (or at least MORE in control than usual) is that I have found my craft materials and space to do the craft! I tracked down the tools and materials from all over the house for my long-time dream of making some earrings. My darling husband even got me a fancy pair of jewellers pliers a few years back and this is the first time I have actually put them to use.

Sterling hooks, findings and beads galore spread out before me on a fabric matte on my desk, I suddenly had a bit of creative block -- too many options!!! So I went to the buffet of homemade jewellry inspiration -- Etsy. 

Not copying anything but getting an excellent jump-start on my creative processes I got to work..... and work I did!

Next thing I knew I had a pair of earrings that I thought were pretty good for a first attempt. And then another, and another! There were some gaudy looking failures, but I just disassembled them and started again.

Wanna See? Here are a few of them....  More to come because it's just too much fun!!!!

I can now cross this off my guilty "crafts that need to be tried" list.

No turning back now!

I did it!

Today my sister and I bought the plane tickets to England! And my sister convinced me NOT to get cancellation insurance! We got a kick-butt price. The taxes and airport fees were 2/3 the price, the airfare itself was cheap, cheap, cheap. Like fancy dinner out with the kids and a movie cheap.

So it's official now... we will be leaving Sunday afternoon May 2nd and back in Canada by lunch May 13.

The primary focus of this trip is to see our last surviving British relative that is still there, and my Canadian friend that moved there and subsequently started a family... so I need to meet her British children!

Of course, while in the UK, there are some things I simply MUST see. Museum of Natural History in London, Bath, Eden Project, a castle or two, a nice cathedral (but what can compare to the vatican I wonder?) a good authentic pub for a good, authentic pint. And there are some things that my sister really wants to see too.... they are all in Paris, so we will be skipping across the channel for a few days (since we are so close).

There was some tension at first during the planning process -- Sis wanted to see as much of Europe as possible and just "stop in" to see the family. I had a few problems with that. First of all it was my idea in the first place to go and she was hijacking the trip (I was ALMOST ready to say I was going without her). Second I have been promising (and genuinely wanting to) visit Aunty Joyce for about a decade and she is getting advanced in age now, so I want to make it a real good visit! Thirdly, Sis was making it sound like she'd never be able to go over the Atlantic again so she better get to see it all, and that's hogwash... she'll go again if she can stomach air-travel (next time she can see Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, Switzerland and all those other places on her OWN time - and budget). And lastly, the money -- since buying our pretty car we have only tiny savings that are liquid. I am grubbing around best I can to make this happen, and I will try my darndest to pay cash for it all, but it will be super-tight even staying with friends and family 4 of the 10 nights. Sis has no problem using credit... that's her choice, I won't belittle it, after all she's good for it and has no problem giving money away to interest (but I do!).

I held my ground, I even got a little angry and she backed down from the whirlwind Europe tour with a Paris compromise. So the plan is on track for family first, vacation second!

Now I am thoroughly excited!

Book Block

Remember that book idea?

Well I thought it out so much, and did a bunch of research and the story was evolving very nicely in my head as I was waiting for sleep every night.... even put alot of ideas down at the computer!.... then Christmas happened.

Now that the holiday season is wrapped up and I am focusing on my trip to England, a strange phenomenon has happened surrounding the book progress.

I feel like the idea of the book is in the same part of my head that books I HAVE ALREADY READ live. My subconscious has classified it as "a good book, I should read it again sometime". And when I think about it now, it's in the past tense.

To the writers out there:

Is that normal?

Does that mean I am done with it and should let it go to leave room for current dreams?

I still think it is a valid premise for a book, and I like the characters and plot.... but I am not feeling the urgency I did before.

Something to Aspire to

These are Ben Franklin's Thirteen Virtues....

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11.TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

I think Benny boy was onto something here!!!! It is definitly something to aspire to, now that I am older and *ahem* wiser.

(picture from here)

Bucket List

My whole life I have had a bucket list... even before the movie came out (wink-wink).

You see, my dad thought it was infinitely important to visualize what you want so that opportunities present themselves to achieve the goals.... (and this was WAY before "the Secret" came out -- which I have not read BTW). That old story: If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you've got there? And the sterner version: People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. ... you know what I am talking about: Life is what you make it, Make your own luck, etc, etc, etc.

Having this drilled into me from a tender age, and seeing how much happier my dad was after he discovered these "truths", I integrated goal-setting into my life pretty darned early.

A few of the goals I have reached already (in no particular order):

1. get a drivers license
2. get a motorcycle license
3. move out on my own and not move back
4. post-secondary education
5. shave my head
6. have a "bad" boyfriend for fun
7. learn to cook intuitively
8. have a dog
9. make money being creative (not a starving artist!)
10. marry a good man
11. keep my friends dear to my heart
12. buy a house
13. start a savings regime
14. have kids
15. be a work-at-home mom
16. make sure I have a will
17. touch ancient architecture
18. walk on cobblestones that existed even before Christianity
19. see real treasures and luxury (the Vatican was excessive)
20. dip my feet in the Mediterranean Ocean
21. stay in Venice
22. eat good, local food in Europe
23. grocery shopping in a non-english shop
24. learn to love camping
25. have a job that involves needing steel-toe boots and reading blue-prints
26. pilot a plane (okay it wasn't really on my list, but Bean MADE me take controls on the little plane one time, so I count it)
27. see dinosaur bones
28. Disneyland
29. eat all I want on a cruise ship
30. cross the Atlantic
31. see the frozen North (through a tiny airplane window, but I SAW it!)
32. ride in a helicopter
33. catch a fish and eat it
34. grow my own vegetables
35. learn what wild plants are edible in my area
36. see original art done by a "master" of the Renaissance
37. Hack my hair off to raise for charity

I think I have all the BIGGIES covered (except my old age goals) Now onto the things I haven't done yet....

1. Go to a real costume ball (where you have to wear huge gowns and powdered wigs)
2. Play the Cello
3. visit England (my father's homeland) especially want to see a medieval castle
4. Go to the East coast of Canada by train
5. Ride a motorcycle down to Pebble Beach to see the annual car-show
6. Design my own house
7. Invent something and have it produced
8. See Aztec or Mayan pyramids
9. publish something
10. retire comfortably
11. pay off my mortgage
12. create fine art as a hobby
13. tour north america in an RV
14. live off the grid
15. live in the wilderness (like a pioneer) for one year
16. Design a car
17. go to Japan
18. jump out of a plane

okay, I know some of these are FANTASIES more than goals, but I'm putting them on there 'cause it's MY list.