Lots of excitement for Labour Day weekend: a trip to the air show, a visit to our friends’ trailer, and a ride in the country. Dinner with strawberry-rhubarb pie. Still eating the fudge we bought.
It’s a relief to have the running around done so we can get back to our routine. 

While we were driving around we saw the carcass of a fox that had been run down. Plot bunny! Yes, we started planning my NaNoWriMo novel idea for November. Can't tell you anymore about that just now in case you thievin' varmints steals me idea, see? Ha!  

Change and Progress

Got a lotta stuff going on in my life. You know the stuff: job changes, death of a younger sibling, house move, low blood iron, pet's end of life, spouse with terminal illness... Okay, hopefully you aren't personally acquainted with the last one.
 I'm told that each one is a stress. Okay. How does THAT help me? It means I have to keep taking care of me. Like in the airplane, when the air host tells you that in an emergency you should put your oxygen mask on before the child's next to you, you can't help anyone if you collapse.

Didja ever have a day when you deleted the post you'd just spent ages writing??? Harumph. Ever notice how your cool lead in line doesn't sound as wonderful the second time you type it?
It's October, we've moved 40 minutes closer to Toronto to save Hubs the commute. Sold the house, rented an apartment (part of a house), and I have an in-home office.

It's all new and shiny- from the house to the neighbourhood  to the lifestyle.  I'm in training. I've started running and working out. Still gotta control my eating more, but it's underway. See, in 2016 I plan to participate in a Tough Mudder, God willing. I thought my first step should be learning to run. Using the free Couch to 5Km (C25K) program, I'm up to 2.25 miles. I'm only 7 weeks in, people! The first week I thought the 60 second running, 60 second walking would take me out- look at me now! I follow Dan Pearce's Single Dad Laughing Health Club on facebook (SDLHC), and everyone has been super encouraging and supportive.  So I started doing some of the exercise challenges. Ever heard of a Burpee? If you haven't, you don't want to! Jump down, throw your legs back, do a push up, jump up (like in jump off the ground). I'm up to 7. That's in addition to planks, crunches, wall sits, squats, leg raises, mountain climbers,  and push ups. I'm doing a combination of regular and modified push ups until I get more strength in my arms. I'm at 6 each right now. I thought solid arms meant strong arms, but I'm still struggling along. All good things come in time, though, and I plan to work out til I'm as fitty as can be.

Well, I had a lot more to say, but it will have to wait. 

Love to you all, my peeps. Big hugs from Mama Bear.

Hello, faithful readers… yes, the dead have arisen! Sorry for the long break.

I have been very busy looking for, getting depressed, and finally finding, work. Then very busy doing said work… couldn’t even do Nanowrimo.org properly this year.  I have been intently following some people’s stories on facebook, and wishing (which does NO good) that I had more time to do my stuff. Then kicked self, as I was off work for a YEAR and stopped blogging back in April. It’s true that busy people get more done. Well, I have stood up, shaken out my skirts, and started the journey once more.

What have you all been doing? I have been chasing around with my grown children and my mum and hubby.  Mid summer my middlest child brought me a puppy!! And I love him. He is a schnoodle and very intelligent (yes, always thinking), and already larger than originally advertised by said middle child. *stern face* He also has a lower canine that is NOT on the outside of his jawline where it should be.  Could be surgery in his future.

Spring! and St George's Day

I think.. maybe.. wait! .. no.. yes! Yes, Spring is here :)  And that means clothes on the line, clearing the garden, branches out to the curb from their current beaver-dam like pile by the back fence, and fixing the fence.  It's also St George's Day, which you would probably know - if you have English blood in you.

Back to normalish

Hi.. miss me? It's been a crazy two months - all those holidays, and food resolutions, et cetera..
as well as plastering two counties with resumes.

Merry Christmas!

Dear Blog readers,
Today there was a facebook post from Atheists of America who want to 'keep the merry, and dump the myth'.  If someone doesn't want to celebrate Christmas because they don't believe the Son of God loved them enough to come here and live and die and rise again so they could be reunited with God, (theme of Christmas), and they don't want to celebrate the pagan mid-winter holiday (date of Christmas -Jesus being born when it was warm enough to sleep outside), then why are they participating in this? Why not stand down, as the Jehovah's Witnesses choose to do?

I love hockey

Why do I love hockey? Because of the wonderful men and women who play hockey.
We have been suffering through the hockey lockout. Instead of competing with hubs over whether my team or his is better, we've been watching football and English 'footie'. It's been made easier by the balmy weather, but now the cold is setting in, and I wanted some hockey.
Just the other day, I was ranting to my hubs that the players should just up and play a game! In fact they should donate the proceeds to charity and have a hockey only game for FUN.. no violence, just skill.

Wouldn't you know it? The very next day I heard about Operation Hat Trick. A bunch of NHL'ers headed to Atlantic City and played a wonderful game of hockey (I'm sad that I didn't get to watch), and distributed proceeds between three charities.

Great guys, eh?
Read more here:  Operation Hat Trick 2012

Time off for Good Behaviour

I went to a Christmas party the other night. Lots of people were enjoying a glass or two of wine. Some got a little rowdy. As a teetotaller, I had the perspective of watching their behaviour.  Okay, I confess: it was our club Chrismas party/ year end celebration, and my mum was there too. She was quite exuberant (this is our normal state), and wound up by being with friends and a the consumption of a glass of wine.  (Sorry for tattling, Mum - one of my faithful readers- but there is a point). [Also: I don't drink because we are a family of lightweights, but never remember til the next morning.]

So at one point our president was addressing the room and Mum came to tell/ ask me something. Mum didn't notice the president talking as she was focused on finding me and telling me the message before she forgot. Unfortunately, she kinda interrupted Madame President. Sooo, I have sometimes noticed this behaviour differential with myself and my children.  Should I be proud, embarrassed, or both, when my children behave better than me?

This is not to say that my kids always behave better than me... just sometimes. When they do, I wonder: If they are better behaved, did they learn it from me? I should therefore know better.  Did they adjust more quickly to a societal change? Should I then be embarrassed for being slow? Or do I just accept that they made the wiser behavioural decision, and learn from it?

FREE ONLINE CLASSES

http://globalteleclass.com/scripts/teleclasses.lasso?Dept=001

TWO awesome free courses:

TONIGHT (Nov 27): Judith of Savvy Vegetarian talks about plant protein, and
Thur Dec 06: Jennifer Cornbleet talks about going RAW :) not so difficult after all!

Blog props: Raw on $10 a Day (or Less)

Raw on $10 a Day (or Less) is a super fantastic site for Raw Foodies, Frugal Eaters, and those who like fun deliciousness!  These recipes are not difficult even if you have no 'equipment' (blender, bullet blender, immersion/hand blender, food processer, dehydrator).  The site is easy to navigate, has great 'you might also like' links, a recipe index, and beautiful photos.

Go on, get over there and check out Lisa's page!  Raw on $10 a day is also on facebook.
Go ahead, make your day :)

Israel and Palestine

I want to knock your heads together (while you still have one) for being so silly and stubborn! And not just you, but many other countries/groups who also waste precious time and energy fighting each other.
Here is my solution, as posted to a friend's facebook comment:


 I have an idea. Gather the leaders together for each side, both Palestinian and Jewish.. Make them argue the case for the other side. See what that leads to. They have the same grandfather.. let them start behaving like they were created by the same loving God, and not like savages.
If you break the least part of the law... you break ALL of the law...
Love God, and love your neighbour AS YOURSELF. <This one in particular is old as dirt, we should know better.
This applies to all nations.. if we took care of our neighbours, we wouldn't be in such a pickle. No one has the right to be haughty or the need to be downtrodden. <3 <3 BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

Much peace and love to all involved. When one person fights, those around are hurt whether they want to be involved or not. And now they have taught their children to be ugly and hateful as well. :'(

Midpoint of Nanowrimo

Word counts is all anybody talks about when it's midway through Nanowrimo. Are you anywhere close to the 25,000 midpoint?  Somehow I've managed to get within spitting distance of it. Not exactly reached out and grabbed it, but if you gave me a leg-up, I could get it.

How're you doing? It's way too soon to be throwing in bizarre plot twists and zombie scenes, so just stick with the plan, push a little harder, and NO EDITING! :D That's for December.

Ketchup Catchup

Hey, can only stop for a second - a nano-second that is... by tomorrow night I need to be at 25,000 words. I'm currently almost at 17,000. And I'm sposed to go out tomorrow to hear my friend read her poetry. Gah! So stretched! So worth it!  I have a plot and I'm running with it. It is so much easier to write an intense action scene than to get from one action scene to the next. Very interesting.. Mwah! Behave, and remember: no editing until December!

Nano status: a little behind ( | )

So, we're just over a third of the way in, and the word count is.... 1 day behind. Oh come on! That's pretty good! I don't write on Friday nights, and I've had two plot derailments already. I'm on Chapter 8 or something like it and the MC has finally met her man. Well, maybe her man. They're only about to have coffee - we'll have to see how it goes. 
I understand these are normal events in Nanoland.  My husband (who does NOT write) helpfully suggested I could just write something else. He doesn't know that my characters and I collaborate on the plot. Like a carver trying to release the sculpture hidden within the tree. It's interesting so far, I think... -EEK! Self doubts! Nooo! Stay back! There will be NO editing until December!!!! *left hand slaps right* Get away from the delete button. WHEW! That was close.
This has been very helpful, thank you. I can see now that I must interweave my characters in the mid section of the manuscript.  Well, ta-rah! for now...  

Nano nerves

I don't know if I'm being affected by the impending storm, but I'm getting really wound up about writing this story.  It's not going to be fictional for once, and it's supposed to be enlightening. Boo! Unknown territory! Yuk! Why Why WHY am I doing this to myself????

Anyone else have pre-Nano tremors?  how do you do character outlines for REAL people?

nano..what? NaNoWriMo!

It's almost November, folks; and, for writers, that means nano time.. where we each try to write 50,000 words between Nov 1 and Nov 30. (Yes, of the same year - silly rabbit!)  Head over to nanowrimo.org for more info.

I have entered 4 times and completed the challenge 3 times. It has actually been a few years since I've completed a challenge, so it's about time I got back down to business. My handle is crazynance if you want to look me up. Comment below and I will add you to my friends list.  Got to go, there are plots to be hatched!

and I'm back

Been a long time since I wrote my blog, yeeeeahhhh~
Ok, so the appeasing rock'n'roll intro should have taken the edge off the lack of posts around here.

The rain has started again. In the fall, it rains and rains, and slowly the days get colder. One day you wake up, and the rain is now snow.  But for now, we are still oooo-ing and ahhh-ing over the beautiful colours of the turning leaves, and scuffling through the fallen leaves on the sidewalk as they crunch underfoot. My neighbours have Hallowe'en (All Hallows Eve- Oct 31, as Nov 1 is All Saints Day) decorations up. There are mock gravestones, and ghosts and monsters in many porches. On the evening of Oct 31, as it gets dark, the children start coming around door to door for candy.  They say 'trick or treat' but they mean 'Please give me candy'.

Updating my goals

September already? Where has the time gone? What have I accomplished in 2/3's of a year?

I have decided to use this time to discover what my goals are and to take care of things like refreshing my budget etc.  Budget refresher because one of our big events has been accomplished, so it's time to revise where the payments were going. Due to some circumstances that I keep expecting to change very soon, there appears to be a downward spiral in my finances! This is obviously not a good thing. As I said, I expect it to be redressed shortly.

The goals part is really hard.  I know it's valuable and necessary to have goals, I'm just really bad at writing them down. If you don't write them down, you don't move towards them, and you don't take specific steps to make them happen.

Here's what I've got so far:  I want to be more fluent in French.  I should be completely bilingual by now.
I want to take another trip to England, and one to New Hampshire.  I'd like to edit my manuscript and see about getting it published. And, uh.... that's it for now. :)  What about you?

God's protection

After reading an fb post about my friend receiving a call from her daughter's cell (mum in UK, daughter in Thailand) from a Thai man [naturally this completely freaked mum out, imagining her daughter had been kidnapped or whatnot- is not the case, daughter is fine],
and then this: Identity of woman's body parts

could you imagine being a parent who did not know precisely where their daughter was?  Terrifying.

If we've raised healthy happy exuberant kids, they have no problem wandering off into potentially dangerous situations - I thank God everyday for His protection of my children.