Tag Archives: the Ultimate Blog Challenge

WORKING /WRITING SMARTER AND BETTER

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Day 10 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Another new day. Another new page. It is a grey morning. 1℃ outside at 8:30 in the morning. Snow and wind in the forecast. Meanwhile in the greenhouse, it is 8.9℃. The rock thermal wall and the buckets of water are doing their job well. I did not drop the shade cloth/blanket under the ceiling last night. I thought it wouldn’t hurt and might help to have a little chill for the greens and snow peas. The greens are forming their first true leaves now. The snow peas popping up in rows. I am pleased. I think we can have a fresh salad or two by end of April.

I am feeling a bit frazzled by the challenges I have undertaken. My mind is always preoccupied – thinking, thinking and more thinking. Good thing I still have presence of mind to refill my medication ahead of time. But I forgot to pick it up till now when I’m filling my week’s pill box. It will be a good reason to walk to the pharmacy later on, snow or no snow. It’s a good reason to slow down, organize and find ways of working smarter and better. What are the ways? Here are some that I’ve found on the world wide web:

  • stop multitasking
  • take more breaks
  • front load your week
  • chunk similar tasks together
  • schedule tasks according to your energy level
  • cut down your to do list
  • take an afternoon nap
  • turn off notifications
  • switch back to pen and paper
  • track your time and productivity
  • spend time in nature
  • get up early
  • set up a start date for tasks
  • delegate more
  • know when to quit
  • don’t wait for motivation
  • manage your surroundings
  • declutter

Here’s what I am doing at present.

  • I am getting up early. Usually between 6 and 7 am. I meditate for 20 minutes. Sometimes I work on Wordle and or watch YouTube on gardening and art. Sometimes I work on my drawings if there is time before breakfast.
  • I have a small to-do list each day for April. The must include a drawing for #the100dayproject, a photo for Susannah Conway’s April Love and a post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I fit in other things according to priority.
  • I do chunk similar tasks together. I can’t think of examples right now.
  • I don’t wait for motivation. I get motivated once I start.
  • I don’t multitask.

What I could/should do.

  • Review my goals more often. Why I am in the Ultimate Blog Challenge – it’s my venting, meditative space and to improve my writing. I want to strive for content, clarity and brevity. More doesn’t always mean better.
  • I don’t manage my environment well. I am easily distracted. So I could set a limit to my scrolling whilst on the keyboard. Allowing myself to read one article is a do-able limit.
  • I have clutter. It’s a tough one for me to clear. Maybe I should start with my head first. I have so many thoughts running around it’s amazing I can get anything done. I have to work on bringing my attention back to my breath more often during my morning meditation.
  • I don’t know when to quit. It’s a good time to practice that now. Readers will be thankful for brevity. I know I am.

BREAKFAST AT A&W

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It’s wonderful to step out on a Saturday morning to a breakfast at my esteem A&W with the girls again. Now if I can have my Saturday morning swim back at the YWCA it would be perfect. Perhaps that’s asking too much all at once. Be grateful for what I have now. And I am. I can, perhaps check out other pools but I am a creature of habit. I like the familiar. At my age, it is ok. I am adventuresome enough. I don’t need new challenges. I can wait and see.

I am stretching myself now by writing a second post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Yesterday we had a road trip. It’s a good reason to step away from my keyboard to have a tiny rest. A break sometimes is helpful in giving us a new perspective. I’ve been away from A&W for 2 years now except for one visit last summer. Absence has made me see how much I take things for granted. I now have so much more appreciation of all the small and ordinary things like breakfast at A&W.

There is nothing fancy about A&W but I love the big windows looking out onto 8th street. I love the bright red of the booths. I find the atmosphere conducive to easy exchange of conversation. And the food is good. What can go wrong with bacon, eggs and toast, eh? This morning I had the whole enchilada – bacon, sausages, eggs, hashbrowns, toast and coffee. I guess that’s a bit heavy on the calories. It’s breakfast and lunch. I can afford the extra calories. I am back at exercising Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Life is good.

THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS

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Day 6 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It is too early to take a break and skip a post. I will plod on. Over the winter I had taken a beginner’s watercolour course. I learned that the foundation to a good painting is a good drawing. Therefore, my choice for #the100dayproject is to do a daily drawing. According to Malcolm Glaldwell, if you practice one skill for 10,000 hours, you’ll have a good chance at becoming an expert at it. I’ve done day 53 now. I haven’t counted how many hours I’ve put in. Somewhere in the last while I felt I made a somewhat breakthrough.

Practice does make for better. I started out doing everything so carefully, measuring and making a grid. I used a pencil and eraser. I wanted perfect. My drawings turned out well but I felt a bit stifled. I couldn’t start without my grid and measurements. This was the opposite of what I used to do. Before taking any classes, regardless of whether I was using watercolours or acrylics, I drew with my paint brush. No pencil and eraser. That made me scratched my head. I wondered how I did that. They weren’t great paintings but they weren’t terrible either. Some of them were actually pretty good for index card paintings.

I decided to give up the pencil and eraser. I did pen drawings. No eraser needed or of any use. No rulers, no measurements and no grid. I just put down a mark with my pen and away I go. I scratch here and there, adding lines. Somehow it all comes out ok. I astound myself sometimes. I guess I must have more confidence when I know I can’t erase. I better make good or know how to fix it so that it comes out ok. And adding some watercolour sure makes the drawing come alive. Besides putting in the hours of practice, it helps if you have good paint and good paper. And you have to love the object of your creation. When a photo grabs me, I know that I can draw it. Those photos usually hold a story or an emotion. They speak to me and spill onto the page in ink and colour.

A PAIN IN THE NOSE

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The days are marching along. The temperature is rising. I had to open some windows in the house. The temperature in the greenhouse was 36.4℃ with 3 vents opened at 12:45. We had to open another. Now it is 26.5℃. I feel a little pressured. There’s so much to do. I’m thinking of the boxes of seeds sitting on the dining room table. I have to stay on my program plus a little more to get things done. I am sweating it. I will have that glass of wine with supper.

I am reacting to the crazy weather. Can you believe it went up to 16℃ today? My nose is throbbing like crazy. I had surgery on it years ago because I had a cyst growing into the bone. I know it sounds far fetched. It has caused me much angst even years after its removal. The first time I had it drained. I was too impatient to wait for surgery and the procedure sounded scary. I looked unsightly with a bump sticking out the side of my nose. I had a trip booked. I didn’t want to tour Australia with a bumpy nose. It was a quick fix but it came back seven years later. The second time I had surgery to remove it. The plastic surgeon made an incision under my gum line, peeled my lip back, cut and scraped the cyst off.

Being ‘just a bump on the nose’, I never got much sympathy or understanding. I had no visible scar. But the pain was constant and gnawing, long after my surgery. I never believed the pain was real myself either until I couldn’t handle it any more. At the appointment with my surgeon, he looked at me kind of weird when I told him I still had a lot of pain. Then he held up his thumb and said that the cyst was the size of his thumb, meaning it was BIG. He wrote me a prescription and told me where to to press on the side of my nose to ease the pain. It would have helped if he had explained things more and better post-op. All that I was told was the cyst had grown into my nasal bone. Nothing about the recovery or what to expect.

No matter. I have survived and am thriving. I worked things out over the years. Pain does that to you. It pokes and prods you to find solutions and remedies. It does not let you to stay in the same old, same old. That’s what it’s doing now. So I took a plain tylenol and am sipping on a glass of wine. I have to chill, relax and pamper myself a little. Just to let you know, my pain has much improved over the years. It acts up a little with weather changes. I also have arthritic pain on my left side from scrunching my face, clenching my jaw and tensing my muscles with the pain. I’ve been working on not doing that so life has much improved. Yay!

This post is a painful write. Hope it is not a painful read. It was not my intended write but I got sidetrack. So ends this 4th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

HAPPY FOR NO REASON

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I’m happy for no reason on this 3rd day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. A good night’s sleep and a walk in the park always help. It is a warm sunny day – +10℃ outside and 27.9℃ in the greenhouse with 3 vents opened. The greens are doing very well. So are the 3 Red Alert Tomatoes and the 2 cucumbers. I’m looking forward to happy gardening and fresh salad greens. Maybe there will be a tomato or two at the end of May. Cross my fingers and toes.

Talking about feet, my left heel pain is gone. It’s a good reason to be happy. I’ve had that pain for months, if not for a year. It doesn’t hurt all the time but I sure feel it when I get up from sitting or laying. I would hobble around for it a bit before it would ease. I’ve been doing heel stretches for weeks at a stretch with no result. I’ve lived with this pain for so long that it’s part of me. I hadn’t noticed the exact moment it left. I am sure it was the functional exercise class Friday that did it. It’s such a good class, seemingly easy and simple with no heavy breathing or sweating. This is the set of exercises. We did it for 8 minutes or so.

  • leaning hands on wall for support at an angle, lift heels up 20 times
  • then leaning with back on wall at an angle, lift toes up 20 times
  • walk a straight line on toes x 10 steps then walk backwards on toes
  • walk a straight line on heels x 10 steps then walk backwards on heels

I hope my happiness lasts or is a frequent visitor. My get-with-the-program is going well. I am on my 50th day of #the100dayproject. I’m drawing/painting my memories and history. I am learning and understanding more of myself and life. How’s that for killing a few birds with a pen/pencil and a paint brush?

University Days
Graduating Nursing
With Friends in Japan

I think this is enough for today. I have to admit that I am a little distracted and frazzled with my projects. I have to save some time and quiet for myself. I lost on Wordle today. It’s a good thing we can play only once a day. Otherwise, I might not get here having this conversation.

THE CHALLENGES OF APRIL

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It’s April Fools’ Day, an annual custom of practical jokes and hoaxes. According to Wikipedia, mass media can be involved in these pranks. I don’t think we are in need of any more pranks and hoaxes. We’ve had 2 years and probably more of pranks, hoaxes and conspiracy theories. Enough is enough. I am not a lover of pranks or light hearted stuff. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt me to lighten up a little though.

Today is also the first day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’ve neglected my writing space since the last challenge. I’ve been warming up the last few days to get back in shape. However, I don’t feel in great shape at the moment. I will give it my best shot though. I’ve been doing this challenge for quite a few years now. I enjoy writing/tapping. It’s my therapy of choice. I come to my keyboard and have a conversation/workout with myself. After I have unload, laid it all out on the page, I feel better. I can see clearer if I have a problem. It’s just good to get it out and not harbour the stress in my body.

Though I share freely here, it is not a confessional booth. I do have discretion, good taste and judgement. I do not reveal any secrets, sins or crimes – mine or other people’s. I share thoughts, feelings of every day life. I don’t have big stuff. My life is full of mostly little things that bring big joy and a sense of accomplishment and worth to me. I share my gardening experience and my other hobbies. We built a passive solar greenhouse last year. This spring is our 2nd year. I will be sharing alot about that. Last year I started planting tomatoes and cucumbers on March 9th. I lost a few but most survived. I’m not such an early bird this year.

I’ve just finished a watercolour art class. I’m presently embarked on #the100dayproject. I’m doing a sketch/watercolour a day. I will be sharing some of that also. This reminds me I have another challenge – April Love created by Susannah Conway. I have my work cut out for me. None of this is a must. I have taken them up. I want to have a serious go at each and every one. Oh, yes, I forgot one other challenge – Tax Return. And that is a must.

WRAPPING IT UP

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January 31, day 31 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I don’t know what the fig happened. I was awol (absent without official leave) for a few days – January 28, 29 and 30. I didn’t mean to. Really, I didn’t but my days got shorter. I ran out of time. I ran out of energy and I never had a plan for those kinds of days. But I am showing up to wrap up the month and the challenge. I will have a beginning, a middle and an ending to the month and challenge.

Did I fulfill my goals for this month and the challenge? The answer is yes and no. I did not show up every single day. I did not worked through the whole Unravel Your Year workbook. I looked back on most of 2021 but not ahead to 2022. I am not much of a planner. It shows up in different areas of my life. Maybe it’s something I should work on, eh? If I had a plan B, maybe I could have shown up here every single day. No use crying over spilt milk. I didn’t throw the baby out with the bath water.

I’ve come back over and over. I have done the best I could. Life is about flexibility. It’s a little of this and a bit of that. It’s a potpourri of successes, failures, boredom, elation, stumbles, falls and everything that is possible and imaginable. I am very happy that we have the UBC platform wherein I can do my mumbling, stuttering and sharing. It’s a great place to meet others from different parts of the world and in different walks and stages of life.

I’ve taken on more than I can bite for this January. Besides the UBC, I have a weekly online adult learning course from our university. The subject is on the goddesses of India. There are no examines but the subject is very new to me. I have also signed up for an in-person watercolour class. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It still is but it’s 2½ hours every Saturday for 8 weeks. Learning something new is very exhausting – for me. After the class, I’m no good for anything cerebral. I ski to unwind. Then I am done for the rest of the day. I have 3 classes under my belt now. I’m starting to have a feel for that sweet spot. It is also very easy to fall down and into making mud again. I try not to feel too elated or too downcast. This life is a journey of ups, downs and monotony. They all contribute to the texture of my days.

Today I say farewell to January and the UBC. Much thanks to Paul Taubman our maestro and to all the members of this community. I appreciate all the visits, reads and thoughtful comments. It’s been a fun and rewarding month.

WHAT IS YOUR STORY

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January 27, day 27 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I thought I would get on today’s post early rather than late. It might give my voice a different tone. I’m not always tired and bluesy. If I was a singer, it would be an asset. It would be an honour to be called the Empress of the Blues. But that title belonged to Bessie Smith. She was a renowned blues singer during the Jazz Age. She rose from poverty with a mighty and strong voice. She was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 43 in 1937. Her grave was unmarked until a tombstone was erected on August 7, 1970, paid for by the singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who as a child had done housework for Smith.

Her life is such an interesting story. We each have our own story to tell. They’re equally interesting. It’s in the way of telling and how we feel about our stories. I see stories in pictures. I see pictures in stories. In the same way, I tell my stories – one evokes the other. When I see the photo of our house in China, I remember playing up on the rooftop. I saw my first ghosts there. It wasn’t that I ‘saw’ but rather felt their presence. I remember my mother telling me they’re our ancestors and not to be afraid. I also ‘saw’ someone standing by our bed one evening. It was more of a shadow than anything. At the time I was still sleeping in the same bed as my mother. It was made of boards, covered with quilts. Our pillows were wooden blocks. I don’t remember them being uncomfortable though. Aren’t childhood memories/stories wonderful?

I used to write flash fiction for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Rochelle is a published author of several books and a watercolour artist. For Friday Fictioneers we write a story of 100 words to a photo prompt. It was a good fit and practice for me. I’ve learned to make every word count and to hone out needless, excessive words. We interact with each other much like on the Ultimate Blog Challenge. You read me, I read me. Then we critique each other – in a positive constructive way. The Dentist is one of my flash fictions that still has the photo prompt in the post. I’ve removed the photo prompt in most of the posts to free up room in my media library.

This is the long and short of my post. Not my best but not my worse. It has a beginning, a middle and an ending. Now I’m off to work on my watercolours. What is your story?

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

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January 25, day 25 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I got my wish for a replay of yesterday’s beautiful morning. It played beautifully, though in a different way. For one thing, I slept in, more than an hour later than usual. It made up for the other morning when I got up before the chickens. Instead of heading out to the park after breakfast, I got out the mixing bowl. We were down to the last loaf of bread. When the temperature dips down to -29℃, it’s a better idea to bake bread first, then ski in the afternoon. There is a time for everything.

The memory of yesterday’s pleasure was still fresh in my mind and body. I decided that it’s a good way to approach bread making and everything else – as a process to enjoy in a relaxed manner. It worked well for me. The morning was sunny and beautiful. In between risings and proofing, I stretched and sipped tea in the sunroom. Somehow everything got done according to plan – 6 loaves of bread, a pumpkin pie, 3 tarts, cleanup and even lunch. Who could ask for anything more?

I have to say that at the end of the day, I was done in. To be continue…..

January 26, day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m back to continue, to finish, to wrap up. I’m back to say that there’s only so much time in a day and so much a person can do, no matter how efficient or how vital you are. I thought I would have lots of free time today but it had a way of running away. I couldn’t stop it. But I had a short visit with my mother after delivering her groceries. I gave her 2 loaves of my bread and ½ the pumpkin pie. I worry about staying too long since she has only one vaccine. I worry every time I cough. It is my usual sinus problems and dry throat. Still one worries.

I think about not skiing every day to have some time but skiing stops my worrying. It makes me feel better when I’m feeling bad. It keeps me fit and strong, so it is not a good idea. There is time for everything. I just have to redefine what everything is.

WHERE ARE WE AT?

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January 23, day 23 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I like to think I’m back in the saddle again, ready to take control, ready to get on with everything. I think it might be wishful thinking. It is almost 8 in the evening. I’m feeling a little melancholic, a little despondent. It’s nothing serious. It’s just the evening blues, the end of the day fatigue. I am thinking and that is always a dangerous thing. I’m wondering where we’re at as a society, as a world.

My corner of the world is small here on Preston Avenue. It is a busy street with lots of traffic. I don’t mind it. I’m right in the middle of everything, within short distances of shopping centers and things that are convenient. My street, being a main thoroughfare, is almost always cleared of snow. What it lacks is the warmth of a friendly neighbourhood. Perhaps it is only my perception. I am not surrounded by those who I can share a cheery greeting, a casual cup of coffee/conversation or a small helping hand. I have encountered wrath and ire over boundary lines and yard/garden maintenance differences and preferences. I’ve had an earful of tragic stories and ugly divorces. Not one invite for a friendly cuppa or glass of. But I have invited. I feel the disconnect and loneliness more acutely on this winter Covid evening.

January 24, day 24 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It is true what they say about things looking better in the morning. I also decided that I would make it better. I don’t like wallowing and sitting with those low heavy feelings. Instead I used them to move me through the day. I’m ok with slow. It’s faster than not moving at all. We’re early risers, so we were out in the park by 9:30. By then I already had Roomba cleaned up 2 rooms downstairs. The sun had not shown itself yet but the sky was a magnificent palette of soft greys and pinks, followed by the yellow.

I would push the replay button for this morning every morning if I could. I certainly got rebooted. I took the time to relax and enjoy my ski. I finally felt the sweet of the glide. I felt the whole body joy of it. I did took a tumble at the bottom of the hill though. I got up with my skis on after a struggle, but then before I knew what happened, I’m down again. This time I took my skis off to get up. Heck with it. Much easier and my new skis are a snap to put on. I made another run up, around and down the hill without a mishap. It was a good ski with 2 rounds, almost 4 km. Now I’m sitting pretty and content, doing my tap dance on the keyboard. No thinking of where we are or how we got here.