Oh Boy!

Ever have one of those days where you wish you could crawl back in bed and put the covers over your head?  Or that you could pack a suitcase and run away to an island and be alone?  How about reinventing yourself, starting a new life in every aspect?  Yep, I have had one of those days!  Seems like it has been one of those weeks and it is only Wednesday, today was the worse though.

Having a hard time with this staying positive thing, am so on edge.  Angry, verge of crying the whole ball of wax.  I need to fight it and look inward, be positive and grateful, not look at the negatives but the positives.  My grateful items are; I have a comfortable home to live in, a job that I enjoy and I have a fantastic kid. OK, so now for the positives (self); I have been very good at taking Dash the Wonder Dog out for walks, until this week I have been good at not being negative (some improvement there) and I have thought ahead and had dinner prepared (love my crockpot).  Whew, not as hard as I thought :)

Dash the Wonder Dog is doing really well.  He now rings the bell when he wants outside, we just had to make the cord the bell is one shorter and away he went.  Granted he does ring it to go outside and then just sniff around or eat ice..............he liked getting a treat to ring the bell so figured it out.  He is also only in his crate when we are not home and will go in there when we say 'bed' as he knows he will get a 'cookie' and be told how awesome he is.  So me who wasn't going to let the dog on the furniture is presently curled up on an afghan next to me on the couch.  He is also sleeping at the end of my bed, lol.  

Trying to take pictures of general everyday things and even include a picture of me........not into this selfie thing, hard to get used to.  So here are a few snapshots from last week.

Baby it's Cold Outside

Wow what a few days we've had!  Lots of snow again and frigid temperatures have been this past week. Accumulation was around 20 cm but we had temps of -25C and with the windchill factored in it felt like -40C.  Needless to say while gorgeous outside you couldn't enjoy it and driving was not fun. School was supposed to start back on Monday but we had three days of buses being cancelled.  Schools were still open for those students who wanted to come but they either had to walk or have their own transportation.

It has also been too cold to take Dash the Wonder Dog out for a walk, it was nice that today the temperature was high enough we could go take a jaunt around the block.  Good for me as well as he is my walking buddy. Training is going well in terms of ringing the bell when he wants outside, not always consistent but he is at least doing it sometimes.

As for me, I am continuing to work on being positive and happy.....for me.  Think I'm doing pretty good, even took a picture of me yesterday so I there are two of me so far for the month, small steps, lol.  Now I did have a little bit of a meltdown the other day and it was stupid (aren't they all?).  I was tired, feeling frustrated at the fact I couldn't get in my parking spot and had to park around the corner of my building.  Now in nice weather this would be no big deal but in this weather I have to warm up my car and didn't like that I couldn't see it out my window........told you it was petty.  Then I was attempting to clean the rest of my parking spot out and I slipped, falling hard on the ice.  Just tears of frustration and some pain as I put my hands out to stop my fall.  Then to top it off my neighbour has been parking in half of my spot so back to the end of the building I went.  Yes I have had my moments the last couple of days but I am still hanging in and I know it will be work. 

So Far So Good

I know we're only three days in but I am doing pretty good in some of the personal goals I have set for myself.  I want to work on 'self' as I stated in previous blog posts, and right now I am trying to work on positive self talk and just generally remaining positive.  No complaining or 'poor me' crap are the goals for January. 

My positives for today; windshield wiper flew off as I tried to bang the ice of it (I might add we were driving down the road when this happened).  I was able to laugh about it, not get stressed but actually laugh.  Looked over at B and we just started cracking up. So after dropping him off a trip to Canadian Tire to buy a new one was in order.  While I was in the parking lot trying to figure out how to put the stupid wiper on (they give you 18 different clips) a gentleman came over and offered to help me, I was so grateful.  It felt so good to smile and be happy. 

Took Dash the Wonder Dog to the groomers today for a bath and nails clipped.  Now he is a wash and wear dog (Boxer mix) but he still had a bit of what I call shelter smell on him and rid of that.  He did very well with the nails she said and also commented on what a sweetie he is, I seem to get that a lot from people who come in contact with him.  More proof of the love a rescue dog can give you, also that hidden beneath outside appearances is a gem waiting to shine.  My Dash is definitely shining, putting on some weight, fur growing back, shiny and soft and what a little ham.  If you're looking please consider a local shelter or rescue.  My PSA for the day.

The snow has stopped with a total accumulation of 35 cm (almost 14") in two days!  The sun was out today and that helped in not seeming as cold as the -12C it was (10F feels like -14F). No walks for us again today, hopefully tomorrow we can get out for at least a short one. 

My pics for today!

Happy New Year!!

A brand new year and we are celebrating with lots of snow.  I mean say WHAT?! It was snowing some last night when I went to bed but when I woke up and looked outside I couldn't believe it.  It has been nonstop all day and looks so pretty out. Granted I didn't have to drive far today only down the road to pick the boy up and that was our venture for the day.

Here I am, the first picture of the year.  One of my goals is to actually appear in more photos....as well as take photos.  I don't think I've used my camera in months and I need to get back in the habit of using it.  I have turned like everyone else, snap them with my phone.

From the DASH-board; our newest family is doing well.  Although he is a notorious counter surfer, proof was Saturday afternoon.  We left and I apparently didn't latch his crate and came home to find he had demolished a Terry's Chocolate Orange....thankfully I was only gone 5-10 minutes.  Let's just say things were a little explosive for a few days, and the one day it was both ends.  Yes I began question why I wanted a dog again.  We have all survived and the leftover Christmas chocolate is kept waaaay high.  Have to find a way to stop my little Dash the Wonder Dog from this behaviour, Dog Whisperer website here I come!

House is de-Christmassed, we watched the Winter Classic--Leafs won in a shoot out and I decided (begrudgingly) that maybe it was time I did some laundry.  Tomorrow is dentist and then dinner with some friends. 

Almost the End of the Year

Today is the 30th of December, tomorrow is the end of 2013 and I am in a bit of a reflective mood.  As I look back on the past 12 months I wonder, 'did I move forward?', 'have I made any changes?', 'am I in a better place?' and to be honest I must answer, 'yes' and 'no'.  I think I have made some movement but as is me I have also taken steps back.

There is always improvement and I am definitely a work in progress, but progress seems to be where I am stuck.  I want to make better choices and improve on myself but I lack the knowledge in how to do it. Stuck in a rut and while not happy with doing nothing it is safer and protected.  Yes my life is passing me by and I know I will look back with regret on what I didn't do, accomplish or try.

I have never tried the 'one little word' but this year I am going to give it a whirl.  My goal is choose a word and do my utmost best to make that word a part of my life.  Maybe if I write it all down here then I will feel that sense of accomplishment (and follow through) that I so desperately want to feel.  So my word of the year is 'self'.  This word can be encompassed in so many aspects of daily life; self-worth, self-esteem, self-regulation, self-talk (positive of course), self-reliance, inner-self, self-improvement and more that just escape me at the moment. There we have it, my word and my goal of creating a journal based on 'self' and let's see where this journey takes me.........

While I am talking about end of the year, here are the last 4 art journal/mixed media pages I have created.  These pages use digital products from the following designers; Captivated Visions, ViVa Artistry, Tangie Baxter, Jopke Designs, Heather T and Bren Boone. Some products used in the fourth page (cat) are retired while the other three use current product.

Looking forward to creating more pages in 2014 and trying new techniques.