My First Blog

   

     This isn't my first blog. It's more like my 3rd. Now my first, was rather successful, but it kind of stopped being mine if that makes sense. I started to write a blog because I like to write out thoughts, feelings and get creative through words. The problem with it was it stopped being about my thoughts and feelings, and became me writing what I figured people wanted. I've always been the type of person who does a good job on something I enjoy doing, and a terrible job if I'm not into it. So I attempted to start a blog all for me, and still...it became an obligatory thing, I wouldn't write about anything that interested me, or when I wrote, I stressed myself out trying to make it appealing. I stopped enjoying it, and it became sloppy, lazy, and eventually nonexistent. Over a great deal of time, I missed blogging and made this one, with no affiliation to work, it's simply mine, people can read it or not, it'c completely their call, but it's MY blog, and I'm far more content with it this way.


     This being said, there was a series of posts I did on my first blog, I'm still quite proud of, and that's the Anti-bully blog series. I wrote it, because as a kid, I was a victim of bullying, and I think most people can say that they were. As one of the people who let me feature their story on the blog told me, at one point or another, I think all of us have been a bully as well. No one is perfect, I'm not about to sit here on my high horse and judge anyone. This being said, my series was me trying to spread awareness, and perhaps have people take a step back and look at what was happening to them, around them or what they themselves were doing.


     My dad was a probably my #1 fan for that series, he shared it, and bragged about it to a lot of people. It wasn't long after he passed away, I stopped the posts. Aside from the wall I put up between me and people around me (which is something I may blog about some day), I didn't want to do the post, if I didn't do it right. It had become redundant, and stale. But there is another reason I stopped, my blog, wasn't really needed anymore. Bullying has become a mainstream topic, There are groups like Bullying Canada, I was chatting with this group when they were in early stages, and now I see their PSA's on TV, and see how their website has grown, and I'm super happy about this. I'm not about to say I made this change, because I'm sure my blog had little to no growth with this topic. I was more of an outlet for others to share their stories, kind of the soap box keeper, and THAT is what I'm proud of with my old blog.


    Something I am thankful for with my blog, is friends I made along the way. Seriously, I made friends from the blog, one in particular who had an extensive several part story. I used to offer the option of a post being anonymous, and I can't really remember if this person chose to remain nameless or not, for that reason I won't use their name. Today I spotted on their Facebook, their Kid was now on the receiving end of a bully...specifically a cyber bully. They posted this and asked for advice, but the difference between now, and only a few years ago, there were answers. There are actual steps to be taken, people are aware of the problem and there are now options in place to help. Is it perfect? No, will it EVER be? Likely not, but it IS getting better. I've had a couple people ask what ever happened to it. I hope this answers your question. I'm quite proud of what it was and am very grateful to everyone who contributed as well, so I did want to take a second to thank them as well, because I was basically the soapbox, they were the story tellers.

How I fight a cold, Naturally

     So colds and flues are going around, hubs has had it even the dog had the sniffles, and yesterday it hit me! Had to take the day to try and get better. So typically speaking, I try and avoid cold meds. I'll take them if I have no other choice, but typically (much like my skin care routine) I prefer to do it naturally. So I thought I'd share what I did yesterday, that made me able to function enough to be back at work today.


    Let me start out by saying, I'm not a Doctor, and if you try these things, it's totally your call, this just works for me and I wanted to share, I'm not attempting to prescribe this to you.


     So, no matter what kind of sick I am, the first thing I always want is water. I love water, I drink it more than anything else, and I want it close by. What's more, it's important to stay hydrated anyway, but more so when you're sick, because it can also help flush it out. I set a 60 min timer, and in that span, I have to down an entire beverage, to make sure I get plenty. I mix it up between Water, Orange Juice, and Tea ( echinacea, chai, apple custard, and sleepytime). I also drink Kombucha, for it's probiotics, but I only drink it once, and don't really put it in the mix.

     Feel like I'm backtracking a little, but after my water, when I'm sick, I want soup....soup is that, I'm sick take care of me, security blanket. I generally DO make my soup from scratch (or verbally instruct my husband if I'm 100% bed ridden. I use bone broth, or cartons of broth ( I usually have both in the house). Garlic and Onion are thrown in for flavor but they're also members of the allium family, and they're good for opening you up, and they detoxify. I put in celery and Carrots, because it's chicken soup, and that's what you do, it's also the only way I eat carrots... I don't like them on their own. I bring it all to a boil, then add the chicken I have on hand and egg noodles. I like egg noodles in soup, and eggs are a source of Zinc, which is good for fighting a cold...not sure how much of a source the noodles are though, so I actually add an egg to the soup as well.

     I'm already getting vitamin c from the OJ, but I also take a slow release Vitamin c caplet, and cod liver oil caplets for my vitamin a, which also is good for a cold. 

     I've had people recommend Oregano oil, and hubs uses it and says it helps. I don't use it. You know that scene in elf where he has the "fruit spray" and then starts whining? That's me with oil of Oregano. ALSO, if you take it, you need to take it with food an apparently, not any time around the kombucha... I forget why, but I remember that... no worries for hubs, because he feels that way about kombucha. 

     Oh wow, this is already really long, but there is more. I do a detox bath. I make it as hot as I can stand (typically I avoid this with my eczema) add some Epsom salt and essential oils, and soak for 30+ min. 

     Something I've only just started trying is aroma therapy. I bought and essential oil infuser, and mix eucalyptus, lavender, and bandits blend (I've also heard it called thieves blend). the Bandits blend I've heard is good for when you're sick and it kind of a warm, cinnamon, cloves scent. Eucalyptus is good for helping you to breath, it opens you up and I'm pretty sure is a major ingredient in vicks. Then the Lavender, a side note, and I stress again, not a doctor, I'm nto about to tell you to shove stuff in your ears. That being said, I'm super susceptible to ear infections, I once got one in the summer. I thought I was getting one once and read somewhere, putting a couple drops of lavender on a cotton ball and putting it in the opening of your ear can help that. Knowing my history I thought, what have I got to lose? And it worked. I mostly put the lavender in the infuser because it helps you sleep. 

     And that brings me to the final thing I do to fight a cold and that's rest. 

     So that's what I did yesterday, I still have the cold, but I'm actually able to work today, and it's on it's way out. I still have my fluids, and will likely have another detox bath, and have my infuser going tonight, but I do feel much better. Thanks for reading, and if any of this helps you, I'm happy I posted this ridiculously long post :). 

      

Stuck inside

     So it's here, the incredibly cold wind chills. I pride myself on being a Canadian who can take the cold, but I think we can all agree, not going out in THAT. Not even my dog wants to be out in this... and many dog owners (or people owned by dogs, you know I'm right) know how ridiculously excited dogs get when you tell them, "we're going out". Alice FREAKS. She starts bounding around, seriously, bounding is the perfect word to describe it, and she smiles, and as you would know from an earlier post, that makes me melt.


     She was in and out today, then retreated to her bed. Then we got cute and tucked her in with her blanket and bear...not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of my dog right now.

      As incredibly adorable as this pic is...I feel awful about not going for a walk with her. Guilt for me not getting my exercise? Meh, I've overlooked that on more than one occasion, KILLS me not to take her for a walk. I know she feels the cold too, and she really doesn't want to be outside either (an in and out potty break is kind of unheard of). It's just how much she likes her walks. She REALLY loves them and has improved SO much since we adopted her in October. I'm just worried she's not getting the exercise she needs. She doesn't help either, her typical people watching at the balcony door has become something of a guilt trip as the temps have plummeted. To be fair, my dog seems to be a little lazy.. if she's sitting in front of you, and she has to move to get to you, she'll pull her back legs. When she's on the couch with her back to me, and I call her over, she lays back waiting for me to catch her. 

     Well I knew this cold front was coming (because forecasts, they're kind of what I do), so I reached out to pup parents I have on FB, and they came through ( thanks again to all of them). This morning consisted of sniffing out hidden treats, training, fetch down the hall, and tug of war (that rope in her pic is great, I can play with her while I get housework done). 

     Has me longing for days where I can get her out though, still want to see the bounding and that great little smile. 

     

My Not New Years Resolution.

     It's New Years Eve and with a new Year comes those resolutions. I tend to make similar ones every year, all to do with health, and every year there comes a point, where it stops. I DID have one year, I decided to lose weight, and I ACTUALLY did it. The problem was, once I lost it, I stopped paying attention. And it's not even that everything I did was actually healthy, in fact I think some of it may have been really NOT healthy.

    So what makes this year any different? I dunno, don't we all have that delusion that THIS is the year? I supposed that's a pessimistic way of looking at it. The more positive option would be to come up with a game plan. Which I did.

    For starters lets start with my confession, I'm totally a pinterest junkie. So of course I have boards dedicated to health (or 5 boards...I have 5....).  From Pinterest you can get overwhelmed by the MASSIVE amounts of information being thrown at you. Here is the Paleo diet, These foods detoxify your skin, Here is the exercise routine to match up with your favorite TV show! So now you have this pile of potential knowledge and don't know what to do with it.

    I think another issue many of us have, is we try and do EVERYTHING at once. Where making myself healthier is my goal, I have to be realistic here. This isn't a quick fix thing, this is an ongoing thing I will have to make part of my routine, how can I expect to change EVERYTHING all at once? So instead I've been attempting to wrap my head around the solid fact, I have to take this one step at a time. Slowly introduce my changes. Another thing I've had to wrap my head around, this isn't a New Years resolution. The New year marks my jumping off point, because it seems like a natural starting point, but it has to be an ongoing thing.

    Aside from this being my blog, and I can basically write whatever I want here, I'm writing this selfishly for another reason. Accountability. I've revealed what I'm doing, to whoever decides to read this. Really such a stupid thing, but there it is, human nature, we don't want people to see us fail.

    So where do I plan on starting? With a cleanse. I'm by no means a nutritionist, or doctor, so I don't know how this will work for others, but I've done this one before, and I did like how I felt after. So starting Saturday (because I'm going to a party tonight and plan on being lazy tomorrow) I'm going to begin the GM 7 Day cleanse. That is all I'm taking on right off the bat. I do have some stuff in mind for down the road, but I'm not sure which way I'm going with it just yet. Will likely continue to post about it though.

Accepting Christmas as an Adult

   
I'm sitting here about an hour before Christmas, and finally feeling it. I love Christmas, ask anyone who knows me. But the last two years, I've had a hard time feeling it. I'll chalk a good portion of it up to losing my father. It was 3 years ago I did, but the first year, I think it was maybe too close to Christmas for it to have actually set in.

     As a child, Christmas basically revolved around dad, he was the big present I bought every year, and he was the one I gave a Christmas list to every year. I was 25 3 years ago, so I was an adult, but up until that point, I had dad, so I was still able to face Christmas as a child. Without my dad, I have no choice, I have to face it as an adult.

     Up until just a few days ago, I was quite down about this holiday season, until I got the words of wisdom from my Uncle (he does this a lot). He told me I needed to take a step back and count my blessings, and let me tell you, I have plenty of them, he also reminded me it's all what I make it . So this was a good start. Then I took another step back and asked myself, what Christmas meant to me. The answer is love. That's the whole thing right? What you believe or don't believe, that's what the entire holiday is about right? I look at the Christmas cards I've received, they're love. I look under my tree, and see the exchange of love. The memories, that some times make me cry, are happy ones, and full of love.


     I remember as a kid, when we didn't have a white Christmas, it got me down. We are without a doubt not going to have a White one this year. But then I watched Rudolph, and yes, Rudolph helped me through this. I'm not sure if you remember how Santa said in the movie, that they were going to have to cancel Christmas because of the weather. Even as a kid, I used to think, Santa, you just work here, you can't cancel Christmas. If Santa, who is the mega mascot of the season doesn't have that power, why should the weather.

     So as I type this, now, 15 min before Christmas, I'm in the Christmas spirit. I've stopped and found all the ways I'm absolutely blessed. This and my husband, my dog and I have done things to enjoy our Christmas eve this evening. I'm feeling the Christmas spirit, and I'm happy, without all the requirements I had as a child. I'm here, as an adult, enjoying this evening with my heart. I'm not sure what tomorrow will have for us, but wanted to take the time to write this blog this evening, to share (as late as it has been) to share what I've happily accepted this year, and of course to wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas

My Relationship with Dresses

     I've never been a Huge fan of dresses. I'm pretty sure I assaulter my mother as a toddler in her attempt to put one on me, and there was more than one Sunday morning shouting match with my grandmother over the years, when she tried to get me to wear one to church. I like jeans, I've always liked jeans. I remember at 7 years old, how comfortable I felt wearing jeans. You can move more freely in jeans, and they're tougher. I just have more confidence in Jeans.

    My prom night, we had our prom and safe grad in the same place, so we all had our bags with our change of clothes for later in the night there...I was legitimately the FIRST person to change into their regular clothes, my jeans. My classmates, were in Gowns and Suits, I was in my jeans, and I was completely fine with that.

   

    Why do I post this? Well, I was at a work event this evening, where I decided to wear, a dress.

     And EVERYONE at work knew how out of my element I felt. Is it because I still very much have my tom-boy streak? No, couldn't be (Though I REALLY do), because if THAT were the case, I wouldn't own dresses,  and I do, this one for example is one I thought was just SO pretty, hubs bought it for me last year for Christmas. Well I finally had a place to wear it, so I did. I get back to the station after the event, and no, I didn't bring a pair of jeans with me. I decided, this was what I was going to wear for the rest of my show... but I didn't have to put up with the tights anymore.

    Suddenly I wasn't uncomfortable anymore. I'm sitting here, typing this, in this dress, completely comfortable. Why? It's not incredibly short, or tight (neither were the ones when I was a kid, but that was a different phase). I can move and bend without worry. I sit weird, and that may be part of my issue with dresses and skirts, but I can sit weird in this...did I find a dress I could actually have a relationship with?! I may have!

My Merry Christmas Wish for You

     Well here we are one week before Christmas eve... I've started writing this post and stopped more times than I can count ( not the Christmas Eve part, just in general). For several different reasons, one very dominant reason is because I have been done my shopping for a while. Yes I'm THAT person, but if it makes you feel any better this year I've become the person who isn't done all of their wrapping, for one of the CHEESIEST reasons. Ready for this? I'm not done wrapping my dog's gifts because I'm with her ALL the time when I'm home... I need like 15 min an I'm good lol.

     I still love Christmas, in similar ways I did as a child. When I used to shop for my dad, it was a big deal. My uncle would take me shopping and it would be a whole big night, and a tradition we did every year. He still loves Christmas too, so this might be why I still enjoy it the way I do. He also taught me to shop all year (yes I'm THAT person). I remember one year My dad took my brother and I to the Boxing day sales, and we were so excited we got ALL of our extended family members done for next year. I like to remember the traditions from my childhood, they're what makes me feel like Christmas. Unfortunately, a lot of them are gone now. My dad has passed away, and my family has gotten older and we have made our own traditions. I with my husband, and my brother with his wife. I've held onto some of the traditions from when I was a kid. I still go out for a Drive looking at the lights ( we've moved it to Christmas eve though), and I still have the Christmas eve dinner I had as a kid. But most of my traditions revolve around the holiday dates themselves... so even though I was wrapping my gifts listening to the Boney M Christmas album (as tradition goes) and I watched the Muppets family Christmas my brother put on DVD for me (because it was always the first Christmas special we watched EVERY year), I wasn't feeling it.


     I wasn't feeling it until this past weekend, when I saw my family, and memories of Christmases from the years came flooding back (mostly good, but the odd bad). I love that my brother had the ceramic tree and plum puddin place out  ( that was our dad's Christmas village). And though our Uncle has moved, it was still like walking into his place when we were kids. He had his Christmas music playing (Boney M and his fave Anne Murray), it was all decorated and I could smell the pasties cooking. It got loud, there was a lot of laughter, and that was always Christmas.


     I also got to visit with my Nanny, and that was wonderful. She's the last grandparent I have and she's always been special to me. We chatted and laughed and she had her ceramic tree out too (because I think everyone in my family had one). She can't do Christmas like she used to, and yet, it still felt like it.


    I guess the moral of my story is, Christmas to me, is my family. The loud laughing fits, and the quiet chats. The memories of the past, and the ones that we make. I swear I'm not trying to be all "holier than thou" here, but I'm sharing this so maybe some one can take a step back from the chaos, take a deep breath, and remember what this holiday is all about. We go out and buy those pricey items, and it shouldn't be obligatory, it should be because we want to, to put a smile on that persons face and make them feel loved. And it shouldn't be valued by the price tag, because it's not about that. It's about you taking the time to care about some one and love some one, so you want to get them this gift, big or small, as a token of that affection... I know I just got super preachy... but that's what we were all taught this holiday was about wasn't it? When did we as a society lose that? That's the kind of Christmas I wish for you, keep that spirit in your heart, and share it where you can.