Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

According to Blogthings, which we know is the very epitome of correctness when analyzing who you are based on a handful of generic questions, this is who I am! 

You Are Very Warm

You are kind, caring, and empathetic. A lot of warm energy radiates from you.And it’s not an act – you truly like people. You get a charge from people being around you. You are are easy going and very socially adaptable. You’re willing to overlook peoples’quirks.You enjoy meeting people from all walks of life and helping them if you can. Giving makes you feel good.

 

How Warm Are You?

Your Birthday Predicts You’re Sensitive

Ever since you were born, you’ve always been able to cooperate.You enjoy supporting and being inspired by others. You appreciate the dynamic of a group. Getting along with others is essential to you. You are both fair and well mannered.You are very intuitive and easily effected by other people. Sometimes you are too delicate.

What Does Your Birthday Predict About You?

You Crave a Blissful Life

Your dream is to live a light hearted, carefree life. You don’t want to be bogged down by stress.You’d like to recapture some of the playfulness and innocence you had as a child. You believe that life should be about celebrations and fun. The world needs more happiness.You want to focus on the positive and stay optimistic. It’s too easy to get depressed.

The Sunset Test

You Are an Endomorph

You have a rounder, softer body type. It’s difficult for you to lose weight.Endomorphs are known for being friendly, generous, and warm. It’s likely that you’re a relaxed person who enjoys good times, good people, and good food.You are warm and affectionate. You provide comfort to others and crave it for yourself.

What’s Your True Body Type?

Life has felt like a struggle lately.  Everything just seems to be in slow motion and like it isn’t coming easy.  I suppose there are seasons like that.  

My photo project is one of those struggles.  I’ve managed to keep up with it, but sometimes just under the wire (like when I’m processing pictures in the middle of the night).  I’m proud of myself for keeping up with it thus far and I don’t feel like I’ve had to lower my standards too much to get a photo a day.

Running has also been a bit tough lately.  I finally realized that this was because I needed new shoes and now that I have new shoes, it’s a struggle again because they must be broken in.  I forgot how tough it is to break in new shoes.  But it will all be worth it in the end.  Especially once the weather warms up and I can run without risk of breaking my neck or freezing my lungs!  :)

Blogging OBVIOUSLY has been a struggle.  I don’t know what to write without complaining and I’ve been in this rut with life lately and I just haven’t done anything worth blogging about.  Mostly it will sound whiney and mundane, so I stay silent.  I think it’s just winter getting to me.  Too many weeks of being cooped up in the house with children that are driving me a little battier every day.

So yes, we can gather from above whininess that parenting has also been rough recently.  I think the short loud ones are on a mission to make sure that I go on holidays and not miss them at all.  Because the past few days I’ve been ready to take off a week early.  It’s like I’m on a one way trip to insaneville!  Insert rocking and humming here.

Yet through it all I hold on to this…I’m leaving in 7 days, 10 hours and 24 minutes.  

• I will have no shortage of things to take pictures of.  
• I will have 14 days in a row of weather nice enough to run in, should I so desire.  
• I will likely have things to blog about.   
• I will drink pina coladas for breakfast if I want.  
• I will sleep till whenever I decide to get out of bed.  
• I will swim without having to worry about offspring needing swimmers, lifejackets, naps, food or potty breaks.  
• I will bring more books than I can possibly read in 2 weeks.  
• I will bring more bathing suits than necessary and enjoy not having to ever put on a cold, wet one in the morning.  
• I will have nothing to do and all day to do it in.  

And that, people, is a promise!  Heavenly.

So here’s to hoping that Mexico has some rejuvination in store for me.  I hear there’s a spa in our hotel.  I may take advantage of that, too

 

 

 

I’m in the other room when the incident happens and I hear a lot of laughter and then Ella yelling, “MOM!!!  Aidan peed on me!”  Gah!  

Aidan peed on the chair in the kitchen, which then dripped down onto the floor and all over Ella who was sitting under her chair (shudders).  

I go in there with a towel, rip-snorting mad and pull Aidan off her chair onto the towel, sternly telling her not to move.a.muscle!!  I’m mad.  I’m shaking my head and muttering, “This is DISGUSTING!  No, it’s BEYOND disgusting!”

From beneath the chair Ella quietly interjects, “That means it’s REALLY disgusting!”

And I laughed.  Tension gone and crisis averted.  

I have a thing about smells.  Sometimes it’s good, other times…not so much.  I have to know what things smell like.  When I pick up a shirt off the floor…sniff.  Can I wear it again?  Is it ready for the laundry?  When someone walks by…sniff.  Are they wearing perfume or cologne?  Does it suit them?  Do they need some deoderant?  (this is when the “not so much” comes into play)  :)  

My favorite is when I walk into my bedroom.  I *HEART* the smell of my bedroom.  It’s the smell of sleep mingled with my vanilla airfreshner from Bath & Body Works in the bathroom and the lingering scent of the body wash I use when I shower.  It feels like a cocoon wrapping itself around me everytime I walk in, probably because it’s the most personal scent.  (The reason I started this post in the first place is because I’m snuggled up in my bed with my laptop.) 

As a child I refused to let my mom wash my blanky.  I would go to great lengths to hide it from her.  Who knows what kind of cooties were growing in that thing, but heaven forbid she alter the smell of it.  My pillow case, too.  But that wasn’t as important as the blanky.  I still bury my nose in my blankets when I get into bed each night and take a deep sniff.  Mmmm.  It relaxes me.  It seems my children have inherited this trait.  One likes the smell of her blanky, the other smells her pillow.

When I hug my daughters, I bury my nose in their hair and inhale deeply.  I used to do that a LOT when they were babies.  I would hold their tiny, round, fuzzy heads up by my face and just breathe in their baby goodness, especially after a bath.  I actually kept a bottle of the Johnson’s baby wash (before they altered the scent and pissed me off completely) and from time to time I’ll open it and I get all teary-eyed with the nostalgia and I miss my babies. 

The smell of paint or stain are pretty high on my list of faves.  I adore the smell of fresh paint when I walk into a new house.  When I open a can of paint, inevitably I’ll lean in closer and take a good whiff.  As a kid I used to hang out in my Dad and Grandpa’s woodworking shop because the smell of stain, glue and sawdust had such a warm, wonderful smell.  It’s one thing I love about building houses and moving so often.  When the new house smells disappear I get a bit sad.  I think I might have to invent a “new house scent in a can” that I can spray and it might save us some money and moving!  

And the smell of books.  Old ones, new ones…sigh.  The first thing I do when I walk into any bookstore is enjoy the smells.  It’s gotta be one of the most comforting smells out there.  I love the smell of new paper and bindings, but there is something about the mustiness of old, used books, too.  Of course, when there is a coffee shop in the bookstore, the pleasure increases tenfold, as there is something timeless about the smell of books mixed with the aroma of coffee and pastries.

Ah, yes, coffee.  I don’t drink the stuff, but the smell is wonderful, don’t you think?  It reminds me of mornings when I lived at home and I would wake up to the aroma of coffee brewing downstairs and it was the sign that my mom was awake.  It reminds me of my wonderful friends, since pretty much all my friends drink coffee.  It reminds me of sitting in Tim Horton’s having lingering conversation over a steaming cup (well, the other person has a steaming cup, I have a latte or hot chocolate).

When I think about our upcoming trip to Mexico, I’m instantly transported back in my mind and one of the things I recall most vividly is the smells.  The salty air, the wafting scent of all the restaurants as we wander down the street, the wet sand. 

Don’t you think it’s incredible how that just one of the five senses can invoke so much memory with such intensity?   

What scents are the most nostalgic or pleasing to you?  Or which of the 5 senses is the strongest for you?

  

And I am a PRO!!!  Blue ribbon winner.  Numero Uno!  

I decided to be awesome and take out a roast last night to put in the slow cooker this morning, you know, try to be a good wife and actually have supper ready when Jer got home from work.  It’s pretty normal for him to come home and I’m like “Um, what do you want for supper?”  It’s not like supper doesn’t happen EVERY.DAY!  It’s not like I haven’t had 8 hours to ponder this subject EVERY.DAY!!  So you can imagine how proud I was of my forethought and I proceeded to give myself a hefty pat on the back.  

A little prematurely, it appears.  It’s now 4:15 p.m. and the roast is still in my fridge, mostly frozen.  Way to be on top of things, Erin!  Looks like we should be eating supper at approximately 10:30.  Just kidding.  I guess it’s mac and cheese.  

Perhaps I’ll start some laundry and forget about it, too.  Oh…wait…I did.  Seriously.  Still in the washer since this morning.  Sigh.

Perhaps I should spend less time playing with candy and more time doing, um, important stuff like feeding my family and keeping our clothing clean.  So overrated.  

I know I’ve been a bit MIA in the last month, both with blogging and reading blogs.  The truth is my wrist has been bugging me and it’s just painful to type and click away with the mouse.  I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like my wrist was broken after weeks of a slight, nagging pain (this occured after a shoveling incident).  One of my tendons had apparently decided to go and get all inflamed at night.  Now I’m wearing a wrist tensor and feeling a little incapacitated when it comes to doing pretty much everything since it’s my right hand.  I’m likely going to be MIA from any serious blogging for a few more weeks, since I’m starting my reflexology in 2 months and I want a nice strong wrist for that.  It seems I may lose most of my readers, but I suppose that’s the price I must pay to let my wrist heal.  

In the meantime I’ve decided to really work on my distance when running.  Two years ago I learned how to jog.  I reached my goal and since then I haven’t really pushed myself.  I’ve decided to set a goal for myself this year rather than just running aimlessly for months on end with no destination in mind.  My parents live 6 1/2 miles from us and I think it would be great to be able to run all the way there!  I’m at 2 1/2 miles already, so that’s only 4 more.  :D  ONLY 4 more.  Which is further than I’ve EVER run.  Ha.  But I think if I train properly, I can do it.

For starters, the past two years I’ve only started jogging in April.  This year…January!!  AND I’ve never jogged in subzero temps until this year.  So that will help my lung capacity in the warmer weather.  I think.  Sounds like a good theory anyway.  :)  I’m hoping to increase my distance by 1/2 a mile every 2 weeks.  We’ll see how it goes.

And just to prove my point about why I’m not doing much blogging, this post took me 5 hours to write  One sentence at a time.  I have managed to keep up with my 365 project.  So if you want to see something from me every day, go there.  I’ll be here as much as I can.  Bear with me.