Happy places

I guess this means places BESIDES that little place in my head.....

1. The east armchair in the living room. I am not sure why - but the west armchair feels wrong on so many levels. And I always feel a little resentful when someone else is in my east chair.

2. Rib Lake - home of our family cottage. It's off the grid and a little isolated. I've been going since I was 5 (give or take) and there are very few summers I have missed a trip.

3. Our bed. With flannelette sheets, my husband gently snoring and a cat softly purring. Even better if it is -25 C and snowing.

4. The Extreme Bean on a Saturday morning, after a run short or long. Drinking coffee, eating multi-grain toast and PB and J. And chatting with my running friends.

5. Book Club. With a glass of (red) wine, some good munchies and great conversation.

6. Any place with a book.

TIme for some SERIOUS self-reflection...

Day 7

Things to say no to:

1. Cookies. And cake. At least on a regular basis.

2. Answering the phone when I KNOW it's a telemarketer.

3. The time-suck known as Plants Vs. Zombies. Or Angry Birds. Or Spider solitaire.

4. Running faster than I should at the start. Because I will feel crummy at the end.

5. Clicking on "just one more" link. Or blog.

March 5, 6 and 7

March 5th

Words to live by:

1. When you follow your bliss...doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors: and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else.
Joseph Campbell

2. One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. A.A.Milne

3. We've begun to raise our daughters more like sons...but few have the courage to raise our sons more like daughters. - Gloria Steinem

4. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. Unknown

5. Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death. Harold Wilson

There are plenty more, I am sure. These are my current favourites.

March 6th

Things to collect

1. Good friends.

2. Experiences you will always remember.

3. Art that takes your breath away.

4. Laugh lines.

March 7

I am inspired by:

1. My children. Some days they drive me crazy and I will love them to the end of time, but always, their laughter and their tears inspire me to try and be a better parent.

2. My husband. Who just keeps going and who finds joy in simple things and pleasure in my company.

3. A good challenge.

4. Others who lead far harder lives than I ever will, but keep going with a smile on their faces.

5. My mother , who at 88 years continues to find joy in her life through giving to others, enjoying a good book or concert and who thinks her children, their spouses/partners and her grandchildren are just about the best things ever.

6. The colours and fibres that I find in yarn and patterns.

It's March....

....and you know what that means.

Okay, maybe you don't.

Last year, I participated in the "30 days of Lists" project, which had you make a list every day in March and post it. Actually, it was more complicated than that. You made a list, made it pretty, took a picture and THEN you posted the picture. Or something like that. I was a little unclear on the concept. Or more likely and truer to form, I simply read as far as I wanted to and then started madly making lists.

So this year, I thought that I would, you know, do it properly. So I goggled the project. And it is not as easy as last year (I know, on the scale of things, this is not a big problem.) But I think my creativity is limited. Or I have no desire to make the lists pretty. Although I could change the template. Or the font. Or the colour. But it took me a long time to come up with this particular look (stunned, aren't you?), so I think I will just...make a list.

So here I go.

Day One

Challenges to accept.

1. Complete all lists in this challenge.

2. Do the list daily (I mean after the first 5 , which I,um,am doing all at once.).

3. Knit 15 minutes a day.

4. Finish "Downton Abbey" episodes that are taped. (You would think this would be easy, but it is hard to get them watched around Flames games etc.)

Day Two

This month's goals

1. Sort all the pictures on the hard drive so I can find what I am looking for.

2. Finish covering the futon (half done is just begun....or something like that!)

3. Read 3 books from my basket. (The corollary should be "And don't put any more in " but that is kind of naive, don'tchathink?)

4. Complete the "30 days of lists" challenge (duh!!)

5. Do a monthly wrap-up - before the end of March (for February, I mean...)

Day Three

Recipe for a perfect weekend

1. No laundry to do.

2. Sitting and knitting for more than 15 minutes.

3. Watching the Flames win (as opposed to watching them...lose).

4. Running with my friends. And then going for coffee.

5. A lovely dinner in, with friends. And wine and chocolate.

Day Four

Things I'll put off until tomorrow

1. Making the list for Day 5. It's getting late. And there's a PVR with my name on it.

2. Writing an email to Brandee about my lack of running mojo.

There is not much more. It's 8:45 p.m., so there is not many things left to put off.

Um, is this thing on?

I am not sure where January went. Actually, I'm not sure where December went, either. Things kind of ....fell apart between then and now. Not in a bad way. Just in a too-much-Toblerone-food-and-giving-induced kind of way. So I'll recap - kind of a monthly wrap-up - only over two months instead of one.

So where was I? Oh, yeah - the Christmas list thing.

1. Turns out that Santa read the list - and I got an iPad. It's my new favourite toy. I took out a book from the library - on Christmas Day!! Pretty cool, huh? Of course, I am still madly addicted to the real book thing. At least I better be - I seem to have enough of them stacked behind the bedroom door...

Oh - and that Ian Rankin novel on the top of the pile on the right?? Totally does NOT belong to the library.....(I wondered where that went)

2. Of course, the big challenge now is trying to manage the above pile. And the growing list of e-books on my iPad. And trying NOT to buy any books - at all.

3. Good thing I like challenges.

4. Second favourite gift? My new oven mitts (I know - rather low-tech. But these are fancy-schmancy silicon and cloth ones. In orange AND purple. They match one of my sweaters. See?)

5. Christmas Day was quiet and low-key. Although I thought I would not like that, turns out there is something rather addictive about pyjamas, Toblerone and reading my newly-checked-out-on-Christmas-Day library book. Without having to worry about turkey. Or dessert. Or rushing around like a mad woman while everyone else is in their jammies, playing with my their toys.

6. Did some running, too. Only this year, it was beautiful out. No stupid cold days. Although I still think we are going to have some major winter soon.

7. Like in May.

8. Or June.

9. I ran the Resolution Run on New Year's Eve. Mostly because of the jacket. For a $40 entrance fee, I got this beautiful, warm, blue jacket. It's my new favourite. And it's not screaming orange like last year's. Which I didn't run. But not because of the jacket. Great jacket. (I'd pop a picture in, but it's in the laundry.)

10. Stayed up late (for us) too. Kind of like New Year's 1998. In that case, however, I was in the throes of labour (sort of).

11. Yes, we have a New Year's baby. Only now he is a New Year's teenager.

12. Not sure how any of it happened.

13. I mean, I KNOW how it happened. It's just that I thought it only happened yesterday. Or last week. Instead of thirteen years ago.

14. On the knitting front, it turns out I knit (and finished) 14 items in 2011. Which worked out to just over 10 kilometres of yarn.

15. Um, that's a lot of yarn.

16. But it is still not a marathon.

17. In the interests of making that goal, I will have to buy more yarn, I guess. (I will ignore for the moment the fact that I likely have a lot more than a marathon's worth of yarn in my workroom.)

18. And I will have to knit a whole lot faster.

19. Which oddly enough is also a running goal.

20. Running faster, I mean.

21. I didn't make any resolutions, but there is a theme emerging in my ponderings. Read faster, knit faster and run faster.

22. Could be an interesting year...

Dear Santa

Most years at this time, I am composing a Christmas wish list. This is as a result of me putting ideas to paper many years ago, when working full-time and chasing three children, all three years apart, blew every coherent thought out of my mind. When my mother would call and say "what do you want for Christmas?", at least I had some concrete ideas to give her.

I never meant for this to become a yearly ritual. I keep trying to get out of it - and every year, DH keeps asking for the list. And now my children do as well.

What I have tried to say, every year, is - you guys should know me well enough that finding something that would thrill me to no end should not be that hard. Because, frankly? You can look around and see that the house is filled with my touches - and if you are observant enough, my needs become very simple.

Two years ago, our now 16 year old did that. He observed me watching Glee in its inaugural season and bought me the Season one soundtrack. I was thrilled and touched. It wasn't on the aforementioned list - but he used his heart and head and got me something that he thought I would love. And it was simple.

(Before you ask - I have tried saying "Surprise me." It doesn't work.)

But I hate getting specific - because when I do, it becomes apparent that if the specific item in question is not found, people go into a panic. And then there was the year my husband bought everything on the list. Which made me feel very materialistic. I really am not. OK - maybe when it comes to yarn and books. But I am wearing the same boots I bought in 2001 - I have re-heeled them twice and given them new soles once. I am carrying the same purse I bought 5 years ago. I believe if you buy quality, it lasts. So I don't want a lot of stuff. But if you want to buy me something, then it should be something that speaks to who I am and what I believe in.

So Santa- here is a list. Nothing too specific, everything related to my passions.

1. Anything woolly. Yarn, pattern books, a gift card, stitch markers. Something that acknowledges that I am rather passionate about knitting. Check out the Yarn Harlot - she is doing a "Gifts for Knitters" every day. It has great ideas.

2. Anything related to running. Take the picture of me coming over the finish line in Niagara Falls and frame it with my number. Buy me some running gear. Enter me in a race at a destination unknown (but a little exotic - and by a little exotic, I mean, not in Calgary. Or Alberta either.) Running is important to me.

3. Tickets to a Flames game. And dinner before hand. Yes, I know they are in a slump. But I am a fan. And I love live games. And it could be a date.

4. Deep inside, I am a bit of a geek. I would love some new technology. Like an iPad. Or an iPhone.

5. Make a donation to a charity or not for profit I care about. The YWCA: DDRC: the Calgary Public Library. These are all things I support.

6. Books. And more books. For title suggestions? See my account in Goodreads. Password is as usual.

7. Music - Emmy-Lou Harris. John Hiatt. Or check out my iPod for bands I like.

8. I would love for my family to develop the ability to see. Everyone walks by the laundry on the line. But I am usually the one to bring it in. The baskets of laundry in the hall? Surely I am not the only one to see them. I know you take your own stuff and put it away. How about taking the towels upstairs and putting them away? The cookie sheet that has been in the sink for three days? It just needs a wipe to be put away. Piles of stuff around the house? You can put it away too, you know. Just saying. Don't leave it out - or worse, stack it in the front mail basket because you don't know where else to put it. Sort through it, put the junk in recycling and store the other stuff where it belongs. Hint - it's not always in MY basket in the office.

9. How about everyone giving me a firm answer when I ask "What do you want for dinner?" instead of "I don't know". Or "I don't care". (Because you do - if I serve something that I like - but you don't, you care enough not to eat it. So don't lie.) I am happy to prepare it. I just get tired of thinking up ideas.

9A. Ancillary gift to number 9? Try a taste or two of the new recipe before you say "Eww" Or "I don't like this". (When you have never had it - unless you are cooking things when I am not around, in which case, (BIG HINT) a key to my heart and eternal devotion would be preparing dinner for me occasionally.)

10. Notice that the bathroom (or the living room. Or the dining room. Or the family room. Or the bathroom. Or the bedroom) needs a little tidying and do it. Without a critical air and saying "Gee, there was a lot of dust in the living room." Like I don't know that. Or it's surprising.

Santa - I know that the last four might be beyond your reach. Especially if you are busy solving world peace or staving off famine in Africa. Which is why I have provided you with items one through six as an alternate.

Merry Christmas

Janet

November Wrap-up

1. November has been a rather blah month, heralding the coming of winter.

2. It has been accompanied by wild weather in Calgary. (Wildest to date? The wind storm on Sunday, with winds at the tops of buildings as high as 149 km/hour – see here for cool pictures).

3. Only damage at our house? The clothes line and pole fell down.

4. Luckily, no laundry on it.

5. Not the case yesterday, when there were winds again – and the sheets blew off, because even though they were dry, no-one (I’m talking to you, boys) thought to bring them in.

6. Until this morning, when I went out and saw one of the sheets wrapped around the lilac tree.

7. This means....more laundry.

8. We are on the edge of yet another wind warning today.

9. No laundry on the line - yet.

10. Wind warning is complicated by the fact that there is now ice and snow on the roads.

11. Sometimes winter is a b****.

12. Summer here is often not much better.

13. Spring can be iffy too.

14. The only season we can count is fall.

15. It heralds…the onset of winter.

16. Sometimes? I wonder why we live here.