Journey & Adventure

I am so happy to see January on its way out the door. January is a month that provides me with nothing but misery – it’s long, cold, dark and dreary. With a little luck, I’ll only have to endure four more Canadian Januarys. Hooray! I’ve started with my Fluenz Spanish lessons and so far, things are progressing nicely. I’m only on lesson 4 of the first DVD – only 26 more lessons to go and then I have another 4 DVDs. Good thing I started early. Keeping with the Spanish theme, I’m noticing that the voices in my head are now speaking to me in Spanish - particularly after completing a lesson and then heading straight to bed. I guess it’s not necessarily a bad thing – unless I can’t understand them. J and I are still engrossed in our relocation research. I’ll only say this – we’ve started to look at yet another country as a potential candidate. I’m sure we’ll end up looking at plenty more before we even book another flight to take a research tour. Our new living room furnitu...

Over the past few months, J and I have been procrastinating on many, many things. Apart from finishing the spare room renovation project, we have been putting off the inevitable – the start of liquidating our household of stuff, lots and lots of stuff. I’m not a knick knack person and am not fond of clutter. Our decorative taste is pretty minimalistic, so I didn’t think I had that much stuff to liquidate. Well, I now think otherwise. I now think I’m on the verge of becoming a hoarder. Eeek! Who knew we had so much space to stuff…stuff? The basement is full of stuff, the closets are full of stuff, the kitchen cupboards and drawers are packed to the brim with stuff. Stuff is everywhere.  No wonder my house appears to be free of clutter - it's because it's hiding.  Good thing the spare room is not finished, or else there'd be stuff stuffed in there too! Where did it come from? Not sure, but I suspect it was just easier to stuff it somewhere than to box it up and ...

This was sent to me today and I just had to share - I bet you can relate…enjoy! As we progress into 2013, I want to thank you all for your educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally screwed up now and have little chance of recovery. I can no longer open a bathroom door without using a paper towel, nor let the waitress put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on the lemon peel. I can't sit down on a hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed. I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one's nose. Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine how many gallons of trans fats I have consumed over the years. I can't touch any woman's handbag for fear she has placed it on the floor of a public toilet. I must send my special thanks for the email abou...

I am all over the place today. I cannot concentrate on the tasks I need to get done. Even when one of those tasks involves a deadline given to me by the President of our company. It’s not that I don’t want to do a good job. I just don’t want to do a good job today. Tomorrow would work better for me. Perhaps then, I’ll be focused. I’m distracted by the fact that it’s a blizzard outside my window. I’m distracted by the fact that it is also freezing outside today and the fact that I still have 2 and a half months to go before I leave on vacation…to a WARM destination. I’m distracted by conversations down the hallway, by the sound of the snow hitting my window and the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee coming from the corporate kitchen. I’m distracted by everything and everyone. I know when it’s a lost cause – I’m off to wander aimlessly amongst my daydreams. Tomorrow is another day and I’ll start fresh then.

Continuing with the 5 4 Year plan discussions, and in order to get cracking on my need to learn the Spanish language before our move, I’ve ordered my Spanish language DVD’s. Once again, I realize we still have 4 years, but at the rate things are moving along, I better get started. After much research and watching online demonstrations, I’ve chosen the Fluenz program. From what I can tell, it’s similar to Rosetta Stone, but Fluenz seemed more progressive and includes DVDs, audio CDs and podcasts. I spend so much time commuting, I figure the audio CD’s and podcasts will be put to good use.  I’ll let you know how I progress with this independent learning thing. Maybe one day, I’ll write an entire blog post in Spanish. Ha! Seriously, that was just crazy talk.

I’ve managed to go at least 2 years without a cold and since October, I’ve had to contend with three of them – yes three! I’ve been fighting with a cold bug for about a week and a half now. It started with just chest congestion, then a cough. Before I knew what hit me, it blossomed into a full-blown cold – sinus pain, congestion, runny nose with all the unpleasant side effects. Now, the major cold symptoms are gone, and I’m left once again with the chest congestion, cough and overall crappy feeling. I’m hoping it’s not starting all over again. I can’t afford it – between cough drops, cough syrup, Kleenex, Vicks Vapo-Rub, nose spray, Tylenol Cold and Sinus and Vitamin C, I’m going broke. On the upside, I haven’t had an appetite either, so I guess with what I’m saving groceries, will help pay for all the cold meds.  Just another reason to despise these Canadian winters...*ugh*

So with the holiday season behind us, it’s time to start thinking about moving forward on some of those home repair/renovation tasks that J and I have managed to put on the back burner for the last few months. As you may recall, as part of the 5 Year Plan, which is now the 4 year plan because a year has passed, we had a list of home repair/renovations that needed to be completed in order to maximize the value of our home when the time comes to list it for sale. I realize that 4 years is still a long way off, but at the rate we are moving and the way we keep adding to the list, we are going to need every minute of those 4 years to accomplish everything we have in mind. *sigh* Over the holidays, J and The Boy started to hang drywall in the spare room, but that soon came to a screeching halt when they ran out of drywall. You think it’s simply a matter of buying and bringing home some more, but such is not the case. Remember we live in Canada and it’s now winter. Cold, slushy, we...

I hope 2013 brings you more health and happiness than you can possibly handle. I don’t typically bother making New Year’s Resolutions and this year won’t be any different. I don’t believe in setting myself up for failure, but I will try to eat healthier, exercise more, swear less, save more, spend less, be more content and have more fun than in previous years. So much for being more content though - I’m only into the second day of 2013 and am already feeling out of sorts. What’s the problem? Who knows for sure? I can’t quite put my finger on the source of my discontent. I have this feeling I’ve forgotten something important or something bad is about to happen. I’m attributing some of it to being back at work. Although I was here last week and again on Monday, it was different – it was quiet, no e-mails, no phone calls, no worries. Today’s vibe is much different. Something’s off…or maybe it’s just my system adjusting to Day 2 of eating healthy and exercise. I guess on...