chairs beside the fireplace

Every day when I write my blog I imagine that you are sitting with me in one of the wing chairs beside the fireplace. If it is cold or snowy out the fire will be blazing and we’ll have our legs stretched out to warm our toes. We are sipping tea or coffee and talking about our day. I seem to do most of the talking but pause to let you have a word. Sometimes I laugh at what I think is my clever repartee and you force a laugh as you didn't think it was that funny (you are probably right). Never mind, my feelings aren't easily hurt. In real life I stumble over my words and lose some to outer space. I can never think of what to say. But here, at in our two dimensional chairs by the fire, the words flow more easily.

Tiny things to write about: "Write last year's fortune cookie. It got everything right."

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"Unhealthy eating will take over your life." I didn't start off the year that way, but by the beginning of April I was off the rails. I felt bad: sick and stodgy with acid reflux. But, like an alcoholic grasping a bottle in a brown paper bag I couldn't stop. It started off with a period of slight depression where I just didn't care. Then good mood or not, I really didn't care. I kept telling myself I'd get back on track later. Well, later never came, at least not last year. Now, with x pounds to lose again I have to care. My health has been compromised and I want to feel good again.

Why, oh why, if it makes me feel sick, do I keep eating that junk?

~

We have been battening down the hatches this afternoon in preparation for the storm that is bearing down on us. Worse than the snow that is already falling is the freezing rain forecast to follow it. With memories of 1998’s ice storm and the resultant 9 day power outage, we always try to be ready when freezing rain is in the forecast. Buckets of water for flushing the toilets are filled, Graces water & dog water are changed, and drinking water jugs are re-filled. The soup cooking in the crockpot should be ready before the storm has really geared up - it can be warmed up on the wood stove. Firewood has been stacked near the big stove downstairs. We are ready for at least a few days without power. Longer than that requires a plan ‘B’.

 

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday’s fortune

15 minutes for each resolution today!

The first writing prompt in my new book is "Write yesterday's fortune cookie. It got everything wrong."

~

"You are working hard toward your goals." Humph. Yesterday? Not so much for one goal. The treadmill stayed stuck in the corner, it's umbilical cord to the power grid laying limply on the floor. Quietly it stood, like a sentinel over inactivity and indulgence. Bette Davis's eyes glared from the TV screen, their insanity memorizing me, pinning me, to the sofa.

~

I did write toward my goal yesterday - yesterday's blog post was followed by the first draft on the next writing group topic. We start back at the beginning of our guide book so it only makes sense to start at the beginning - my beginning. Several hundred words about my ancestors rolled off my fingers into the first draft. I have some dates to confirm with my parents, a bit more detail to write, and then it is ready for the January 15th reading.

To further inspire me, I read a few pages from an Alice Munroe short story. She is brilliant “Her teeth were crowded to the front of her mouth as if they were ready for an argument”. How does she even think of things like that? It takes me ages to read every page as I devour the same page over and over again desperately trying to absorb her prose into my pores. I study her punctuation with the fervour of teenager listening to their favourite singer.

I'm a little bit excited today as I sent in the order for the 2014 printing of my blog, as well as Spike's Alberta Adventure. If I ever have any question about how much I write, I just have to pick up that book, all 250+ pages of it, to see a stream of verbiage spewing from my fingertips. I had no idea that I babbled that much!

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'  ~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Happy New Year or 15 minutes of fame

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everyone made it through the night safely and with good cheer.

We had a lovely time celebrating with a few guests. The Chinese food worked out well, however, we ordered/cooked double of what we needed! We usually over do the food, but this year we went bonkers. Not to worry, it is all packaged up into meal sized containers and is frozen in the garage, in state for some desperate night (forget about this stash when reading resolution 1 below). We talked and talked, just barely remembering to turn on the TV for the final count down, and then talked some more.

Luckily, the roads were clear and dry for everyone’s trip home – it is actually a green New Year, which is unprecedented after our green Christmas.

I'm spending my first day of the year as I always do - hung-over. Not from booze, but from too much food and way too late a night. It was after 3am when our last guest left, then Carm and I rushed around cleaning up some of the mess. Finally to bed at 3:45 only to lie (or is it lay - my brain is too fuzzed to remember) awake until past 5am, and I remember seeing 6am come and go… ugh. The dogs had to go out at 8:30, and took forever sniffing all the exciting 2015 smells. Oh yeah, I still have a cold. Hence the incoherent, rambling post of the sleep deprived.

Part of my trouble sleeping was angst about resolutions. In the past I've been anti resolution feeling they just set me up for failure (and I hate failure), but now I'm thinking there are some resolutions that I'd like to turn into habits.

Firstly, and most importantly, I'd like to take better care of my health, and that means cutting out all the junk I've been stuffing into my face for the last several months. Stupidly, I've felt slightly sick since noshing the naughty, but yet I continue. Enough. Back to healthy Eat to Live meals. Back to the treadmill (not today), if only for 15 minutes at day. Back to feeling great.

I'd like to commit to writing for at least 15 minutes every day. Any 'get better at writing' tips that I've read has had this as the top point. I can do this. Jo Ellen brought me a little book of writing prompts that I will use when I'm uninspired. I may not post everything that I write, but I will do it! I will become a better writer!

The last resolution? I want to do at least 15 minutes of something around the house every day. It could be cleaning or something more major, but I want to create better 'doing something' habits.

So that is my 15 minutes a day resolution for 2015!

Am I meeting my resolution this first day of 2015? Almost. Way more than 15 minutes was spent washing dishes and putting stuff away from last nigh - check. Writing for at least 15 minutes - check. Treadmill for 15 minutes - not on your life!  Tomorrow… there's always tomorrow!

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instil in us.

~Hal Borland