Unexpected Holiday

My little sugar plum was off to visit her grandparents all last week. Fishguy was working all week. I was expecting to work my regular Mon, Tues, Wed, but the enrollment at the daycare has really dropped this summer, so I worked 6.5 hours last Monday and have been off ever since!! I work again tomorrow.

So what, you may ask, have I been up to all week long? Well, without a child around (or a hubby) it is possible to get caught up on all the house work and laundry… and stay there (for a little while anyways!).

Mostly, I’ve been de-cluttering. I cleaned out my closet (it was long overdue) and I cleaned out Sugar-Plum's closet too. She will be arriving home on Thursday with a large addition of new clothes and shoes courtesy of a shopping spree with Grandma, so I just had to clear out the old (and too small) to make room for the new.

I put 2 garbage bags and 2 largish boxes in the trunk of my car to drop off at Community Care on my way to work tomorrow. That felt good!

I also went through all of Sugar Plum’s school work for the year, recycling much of it, and organizing the report cards, awards, special projects etc. into folders to be put into the eventual scrapbook that I have been planning (for about 4 years) to make of all such things!!

I have a tendency to be a huge procrastinator…. More about that later… LOL!

I’ve wanted, for quite a while now to paint the room that I use as my yoga space. It is also the place where all the musical instruments live. This room, I call the studio. Well, this week I actually managed to get started on this project by tearing off all the hideous wall-paper border in that room! Yay!! It’s a start. I also showed Fishguy the paint-chip colour samples that I have selected to paint the room, to which he said, “Nice!”.

Are my colour choices obvious enough?
Next step: go and buy the paint. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

Anyways, besides cleaning, laundry, closet-purging and organizing, recycling, border removal, paying bills and filing receipts, I did manage to fit several non-householdy activities in as well.

• Yoga every day (day 100 is tomorrow!!!)
• Guitar playing and singing every day
• Raspberry picking
• Visited a couple of friends for tea
• Had a lovely dinner out with Fishguy on Saturday night
• Watched some movies
• Went for a swim
• Read some of Sugar Plum's Library books
• Read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (almost done)
• Journal Writing
• Blog Writing
• Listening to music
• Just hanging out at home being happily introverted!!

Not a bad way to spend an unexpected stay-cation. Incidentally, I consider this list to double as my graditude list for this week!!

Transformation Inevitable

This beauty is the reason we intentionally keep milkweed in the yard at the River House. While beautiful, even in its larval stage, this creature will soon become a magnificent Monarch Butterfly. Plus, the flower produced by this so-called weed, is also quite lovely.

I'm feeling a lot like a caterpillar these days, steadily munching away on my diet of yoga, guitar playing and singing.

I've been working on intentionally living my bliss (with the encouragement of this lady).

And in doing so I've learned:

• not to care quite so much about what others think
• to be more conscious of my daily choices and how they affect my bliss and energy
• that I have more self discipline than I've ever given myself credit for
• that I am able to recognize and overcome negative self talk (the divas) more frequently (um, see the previous post for more on this)
• to be less hard on myself
• to be more open and loving

In further examining my intentions, I've found that:

• I practice contentment, regardless of my situation (even when the divas are present)
• When truly unhappy with my situation, I have the power to CHANGE it
• It is my purpose to spread and reflect light to all beings
• Singing is my bliss and I intend to live that every day

I still need to work a bit more on my list of intentions but in practicing contentment with where I am at, I'm not too stressed about it. I also see that the journey is where the joy is, it's not at the culmination of any list making project I take on.

And while transformation is inevitable, the caterpillar is just as lovely as the butterfly!

Before and After

This is my paradise. I call it, The Healing River.

Me, feeling like a pathetic loser

before swimming in the Healing River.

Me, feeling all blissed out

after swimming in the Healing River.

Last Friday, I was having One Of Those Days. You know, kinda blue. It was just one of those days when I was feeling blah, unfocused, ugly, stupid, useless, scattered, in pain (lower back), in pain (emotional negativity), unworthy, uneducated, dark and gloomy, sad, pathetic and just generally all around "less" than good enough.

It was cool and overcast outside. I moped around the house most of the day. Spent too much time on the computer (aggravating my lower back pain). Then skipped my guitar playing (due to lower back pain). Then did a little more yoga (to alleviate lower back pain). Which gave me enough of a sense of peace that I realised I needed to do something to pull myself out of my funk.

Finally three o'clock rolls around and Sugar Plum and I leave the house to meet Fishguy at the River. I packed my guitar and journals and paints, hoping to put them to use once we were there.

I start to feel better just driving there. We arrive and step out of the car. Inhaling deeply, I feel the contentment mingled with pine and cedar enter my being.

I dive into the River and I am home!

The River washes me clean, clearing away all that darkness and doubt. The smell of the River takes me back... to when I was a child.

Back to when I swam all day and played on the beach and buried myself in the sand and then baked in the sun on a warm towel.

Back to when I sang songs and wrote poems without a thought to whether they were "any good" or not.

Back to a time before I was twelve and gradually came to hide myself away.

After that delightful swim, I felt back at centre and played my guitar for about an hour, did a little journaling and a little painting. I went home feeling rejuvenated and renewed and brought along with me, some new ideas for some stories and songs involving Dragonflies on the River.

The rest of my week since that day has been up and down. But that River is only about 20 minutes away....

I have a song or two about that place. It holds a special place in my heart for many reasons.

Does anyone else have a special place that they can go to be "truly home" ?

Summer's Here And the Time is Right...

~for 100 days of Guitar playing (minimum 30 minutes) every day!

~singing every day too... goes without saying

~swimming in the River as much as Possible! (2-3 days/week)

~berry picking!

~attending (rather than facilitating) a yoga class

~weekly trips to the Riverview Park and Zoo

~camping

~daily yoga (today is day 75!!)

~dancing in the street (I'll find any opportunity I can!!)

Happy Summer to All!!!!

Summer Challenges

Today is day 68 of my 100 days of Yoga Challenge. Yippee for me!

Today is also day 26 of Yogadiva's June Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar) challenge.
And let me tell you, it has been a CHALLENGE in the true sense of the word...
I have even cursed the challenge at times.
But, I am getting through it.
There are only 4 days left!

In the beginning (June 1-10th), it was easy. But I usually practice a Sivananda Style of Sun Salutaions which means doing it first on the right and then on the left side is ONE sun salutation. Generally in my daily practice, I was used to doing 3-5 sun salutaions (so 6-10 times down and up again).

On about the 14th of the month, I was just about dying! So I decide to go easy on myself and count my style of sun salutaion as 2 (kinda feels like cheating... but the idea of the challenge isn't to beat yourself up, right?)

And there were a couple of days that I just didn't complete the required number before heading into some other yoga poses, because, well I just went with what was right for me that day.

Some days I would be pouty... "I don't feel like doing 20 sun salutaions", I would say to myself. Then I discovered a way to "trick myself". "Okay" , I would say (to myself-- cuz I do that talking to myself thing quite a fair bit!) "just try to do 10 then and see how that goes".

So I tried it.

The first day, I did half, then did some other asanas and then felt like, "hey, I can do the other half now".

And I did.

That worked for me for a couple of days and then something else happened. When I was being less hard and more gentle on myself, my stamina and determination grew!!

Once I had done half of the number of sun salutaions for the day, I wasn't "too tired" to go on. So I told myself "well I can do another set or two" And before I knew it, I was too close to the end to bother stopping. It has felt amazing!! Thanks go out to Leslie over at Yogadiva's Divine Life for an awsome and rewarding challenge.

Now, I've been having such wonderful and fullfilling success with my Challenges, that I have decided to take up another one.

In favour of no longer resisting my bliss and as part of the Wild Women Revolution that has been commenced over at BlissChick's, I publicly state here and now that I will begin on July 1, 2009, a

100 Days of Guitar Playing Bliss (I'm not gonna call it practice--cuz I don't like practicing, just playing ;-).

Anyone wanna join me on a 100 days of whatever your bliss desires?

Picture this Part Two

I’ve been slowly working on integrating Sugar Plums picture books into my themed collection. This is mainly due to the fact that she no longer reads them and they are taking up valuable space on her ever growing, overcrowded bookshelf.

Something that we are sorely lacking in this household, is enough bookshelf space!
My dear brother, carpenter that he is, long ago promised to build me a custom-made-to-fit-a-corner bookshelf for the guest room. Alas, this shelf has yet to materialize (much like that old adage about the shoemakers children having no shoes, I suppose).

I think that today, I am about to add “make my own damned bookshelf” to my 43 Things list. I don’t have my list posted on that site yet, as I am still working on it. Soon I will post it here. It is a really cool concept for a list lover like me, to have a life list of a manageable 43 Things I’d like to accomplish.

But I digress, I am really here today to post another list;

Top 13 Picture Books from Sugar Plums collection.
And in no particular order here it is:

Why is an Orange Called an Orange?
Cobi Ladner, Lisa Smith

Coyote Sings to the Moon
Thomas King, Johnny Wales

Stranger in the Woods
Carl R Sams II, Jean Stoick

Dawn Watch
Jean E. Pendziwol, Nicolas Debon

Look at Me
Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

The Paper Bag Princess
Robert Munsch, Michael Martchenko

Deep Down in the Woods at Sleepy Time
Carole Lexa Schaefer, Vanessa Cabban

The Runaway Bunny
Margaret Wise Brown

Alligator Pie
Dennis Lee

The Going to Bed Book
Sandra Boynton

Put me in the Zoo
Robert Lopshire

Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb
Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat
Dr. Seuss

Good books. All of them.
If anyone else has a list of favourite books (for children or otherwise), please share!!

Welcome to My Rainbow!

Thank You Christine!!

I had actually already tried what you suggested, but it didn't work the first time. After I got your comment, I tried again and, as you can see, it worked!!

All my font options are back now that I'm in "compose" mode rather than "Edit Html"

Blogging life is just so much more fun in full colour!!