Tag Archives: the Ultimate Blog Challenge

CHANGE ONE SMALL THING A DAY

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I am so happy that the dishes are done and I’m finally sitting down. Happy, too, that the weather is warming up and the sun is out. It is almost 4 pm and I am pooped on this 22nd day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I realize now that I’ve just gave out a very noisy sigh. Somehow that always makes me feel better. I’m alone at the moment. Sometimes I forget and do it in public. I would get a few chuckles. So no problem, eh?

Now that I have an opening, how shall I proceed? I always thought I was an active person. People seem to think I do alot because I garden and have lots of other hobbies. I also used to go to an aerobic class 3 times a week and swim every Saturday morning before Covid. That only took an hour or two counting travelling time. Then there’s the rest of the day in which I’m sedentary. Now I don’t even have that hour Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I’m trying to rectify it by keeping in motion and not being such a couch potato.

I used to hate having going downstairs so I would try to line up jobs so that I would go down just once or twice. Now I think of it as an opportunity to move and work off some fat. Change my thoughts, change my life. Wayne Dyer would be so proud of me. I have the book on my bookshelf but I haven’t read it. It’s been there for a number of years. I have so many bad habits but I’m working on changing them. It’s not easy but I’m not sweating it. I’ll work on one small thing a day.

Today I worked on being in motion more. I did my 20 minute sitting meditation with my morning tea. Then I got up and put away last night’s supper dishes drying on the rack. I fed Oscar, my sourdough starter. The guy likes to linger over his morning coffee before breakfast, so I did my qigong routine. After breakfast, I tended to the garden beds, taking some of the covers over the plants. Then they would have to be folded and put away. In my other life, I would just drop them somewhere, wherever. I’m trying to correct my sloppiness also.

All this correcting takes more time, of course. I try not to feel resentful about it. It is actually helping me in having more time in the long run. You see, I’m thinking differently. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s taken me a long, long time to get here. And I’m really, really tired. I did some harvesting of my veggies this morning, cleaned and chopped, stir fried, made soup and did the dishes. I think I’ve earned the couch now. No, wait! I better do my hula hoop and other exercises. It’s a short routine. Doing something different can get rid of fatigue.

HOPE FOR MY SOUL

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There’s no point in lamenting over the state of our planet/world. We are as dry as can be. What has happened to our April/May showers? I should rejoice at the warm temperatures but 32℃ and 30℃ forecast for the beginning of next week. Then it’s back down to 17℃ a few days later. I hope the forecast of rain pans out but somehow they have the habit of dissipating. Meanwhile our and U.S. news toots much hope of Covid under control and we can resume life as normal. But listening to news from other parts of the world, I think it is false hope. We are all connected. What affects one, affects all.

Let me not dwell on these things that I cannot control. I have to give myself a shake and ask, What can I do. How can I find hope? This morning I read an article of hope and resilience in the Guardian on the growth of American food forests. It’s what we are attempting to do. Our passion and goal is to grow as much of our own food as we can organically – in our own space and in the community garden.

It does take alot of time, energy and work but it is very rewarding for the soul. I see results for my effort. Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours visiting my parents and planting mom’s front flower bed. It’s one of the things I can do for her. I’ve stopped with the gifts for Christmas and other holiday seasons. There’s not much material gifts that my parents need now. So it is Chinese takeout for the holidays and snow shovel in the winter. I start a few flowers and vegetables for them in the spring. My mother still likes to do everything herself. We compromised and split 50/50.

It’s Sunday morning, the 15th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m showing up as best as I can.

MAKING DECISIONS

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I hate making decisions. It is perhaps one of my biggest time wasters. I fret over the smallest things like choosing from the menu. It takes away some of the pleasure of the dining occasion. Then there’s the decision of when and where and phoning people. Is it a good time? Would they like to hear from me? I guess it’s the fear of rejection. Even though I hate all of this deciding, I do reach the end point. I feel the obligation of doing my duty and also my best. Okay, this is what I’ve decided and I will do it. It does cost me alot of time and energy.

It’s a little shameful that I’m still struggling with this but at least I’ve said it out loud and in print. I should have done it sooner but it is the hardest, admitting this to myself. However, not voicing the problem prolongs it. It’s like the elephant in the room. It lurks in my being all the time, robbing me time, energy and ease. It is silly to agonize over every decision, wanting to make the best, perfect choice. I know now that there is no such thing as THE ONE right choice, decision, answer. I feel so much better. I’m not so weighed down with questions of:

  • Have I done the right thing?
  • Did I do enough?
  • Could I have done better?
  • Should I have chosen another restaurant/person/etc?

I am sure I will have days of indecision again but I will remember this working out of things. It will cut short the fretting and worrying and I can move on. I am pleased with my progress on this day 8 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

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Day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m happy for these early sunny mornings. I’m on alert not to let my thoughts wander and meander into weedy patches. Sometimes it is hard to stay focus and stay on track. My main goal for this month is to find more time and ease for myself. That doesn’t mean lolling around but time better spent. That means being more mindful in the moment, not letting mindless scrolling through the Internet and not mindless fretting over things that I have no control over.

Some days are more successful than others. I need not to fret over the not so successful days and be grateful when I do feel the flow. I just have to let go of the moment as it passes and move and groove with it. How am doing so far today? Better, I say. I’m here already, tapping out the words. I’ve been interrupted by the guy looking for boxes to put seed potatoes in to chit. Chitting potatoes is a new term we’ve learned this year. As usual when you don’t need a thing, there’s plenty around and when you need it, there’s none.

I took the time to go downstairs to look for some. I found two with stuff we no longer need. In the process of moving and freeing them, I discovered a whole pile of dust. It was staring right at me. I decided the right thing to do was to deal with things needing doing in the moment. It’s dealt with. More clean space. It’s what I need to do with my head, too – clear what is not needed and clean the space, filling it with things that nourish. It is that simple. It will create more time and ease.

INSPIRATION FROM A JESUIT IN RUSSIA

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It’s almost 4 in the afternoon. I’ve just sat down with my instant coffee. What I would like to do is have a little snack and watch an episode of Miss Marple. The trouble is I’ve signed up for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have a blog post to write. This is only day 3. Too early to skip out. I can keep it simple though. AND this is the start of the 3rd week of cutting back on food. A little snack here and there adds up. I like to make a serious effort for a month and make an assessment of how to proceed.

I didn’t forget my online class this morning like I did last week. It was the last one on the rise and fall of Mussolini. History is very interesting and Mussolini is a fascinating man. I am sure that there is so much more to learn than what can be covered in 8 2-hour classes. I’m learning about another fascinating though not as widely known man in history. He is Fr. Walter Cisek. He was an American Jesuit priest who spent 23 years in the Soviet Union. 18 of those years were as a prisoner and 15 of those years in the labour camps of Siberia.

I’m not quite halfway through his book, With God in Russia. It was a recommendation from Caroline Myss. She talks about it on many of her lectures. I knew it was a must read for me. I had reserved it from our library. It took almost a year for me to finally get it. And I would say that it came at a most apporpriate time. Talk about faith, challenges and strength. I think it would be a good read for those anti-maskers and covid deniers. I like to hear them talk about how the government is trying to take away their freedom after they have read the book.

Now I have to have a little snack. I feel a sugar low coming. I would not fare well in a labour camp. Who knows though until I find myself in that situation. Fr. Cisek himself admitted that he was a hoodlum and a bully when he was young. Then he got the call and he answered it and never wavered, not even for a second. Not even as a prisoner in Russia. I have heard a similar call a few years back. I answered, too and have kept faith in my own way. But I do have a lot to learn from Fr. Cisek.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…

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February 26th, day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Our administrator suggests the topic of a day in the life of..YOU! He makes it sound exciting and since it is what I do anyways, I will carry on. It is my genre. My life does not seem exciting to me. I am bored though I am interested in many things. Can this be possible. This last stretch of February is for the birds. I’ve said this of other months also.

Today is March 1, 2021. As you can see I have bombed out of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I could not stretch myself to the finish line. I gave in to binging on Netflix. It was on a good series, Shetland. I fell in love with the characters, the Shetland Islands, Scotland and the stories of Ann Cleeve. I was hooked and could not help myself. Every day, after lunch and after my afternoon cross country ski, I would plop myself in front of my iMac with a cup of tea and a slice of Swedish thin bread. It was my matinee hour. It was ALL very addicting.

All that binging has made me feel very terrible because there was no possible end to it. That is until I came to the end of Season 3. That’s it. No more seasons of Shetland on Netflix Canada anyways. Now I’m in front of my keyboard with just a cup of tea, trying to tap away the angst of my withdrawal. I’ve still kept up with the100dayproject. I’m still sewing a logcabin quilt square a day. I have 30 squares now. I have also finished my cross stitch of Jesus I started many years ago. My fingers weren’t idle while watching Shetland. They were busy weaving in and out of those little squares. I can feel good about that.

I am happy, too, that I’ve kept up with the daily cross country skiing. Exercise and the great outdoors are good addictions. Otherwise, I don’t know what shape my head would be in. We went out to the Wildwood Golf Course this afternoon. I set my timer for a 20 minute ski out and then 20 minutes to get back. Having a set time gave me a sense of security that I can make it back to the parking lot.

I’m glad that I can wrap up the end of February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge with a final post, even if I’m a day late. I hate leaving things unfinished. It’s as if I don’t care and have given up. It is always good to care and give a damn. Things can get better. They can’t if we don’t care.

DISILLUSIONMENT AND DISENCHANTMENT

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I hate making lunches, some days more than others. Today is the more. I was wishing for hamburger helpers, frozen pizzas, take-out…

That was my sole effort yesterday at the keyboard. I am suffering from disillusionment and disenchantment with so much that is called the ‘good life’. I’m singing Peggy Lee’s song Is That All There Is?

But I’m also with her about let’s keep on dancing. Let’s break out the booze and have a ball. I know this is a temporary human phase I’m going through. Let me feel and not deny it. What goes up, must also come down. There is only 7 more days to February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I will give it my best shot and finish it. Some of my thoughts on it might have changed but finishing has not. It did cross my mind though. I did question why I should finish and what is my purpose anyways. I had no business or service to promote. My tapping was my way of dissipating my stresses. I lost that purpose in the pursuit of more ‘content’. I lost purpose and pleasure in the process.

So let me go back to mumbling. Let me tap out the rhythm and words. The sun is smiling on me. Let me smile back. I have breadcrumbs soaking to make meatballs for lunch. I asked for hamburger helpers yesterday when I had it all along.

VALENTINE’S DAY AND THE ULTIMATE BLOG CHALLENGE

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Happy Valentine’s Day. It is February 14th, halfway through the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I had struggled through the early parts of it. I am struggling still, having no discipline to set time daily to write. I give in easily to my writer’s block, the lure of Netflix and other distractions, lack of organization and planning of topics. I did have a goal of having more content but gave in to mostly ‘diary writing’. I can blame it on being retired and no business to promote. It is still not too late. I still have 14 days to improve. There’s always the next challenge. Perhaps it would be a good idea to take in the training offered then.

My stats are not going off the chart but I do have a few followings. Since I do not have a business to promote, I am happy with my traffic. I could be happier with more. I am not competitive but I like being in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It is a community and does provide readership. I am challenged to be a more productive writer. I appreciate getting writing tips and topic suggestions from Paul Taubman, the administrator. I also like having rules, even set ones like commenting on the 2 blog posts directly above mine. It forces me to read and comment on topics I might not like or easy to read and comment on. It helps me to exercise my reading and commenting muscles. I like being informed what are and are not good comments. It all helps in becoming a better writer.

It’s Sunday. I am giving myself a break and call this finished. I’ve pushed myself hard on the ski trail today, doing 3 laps around the park with a best time of 9::45.54 minutes on my second lap. I’m still on track with my 100dayproject with the 15th Log Cabin quilt block. The high in our greenhouse was 32.1℃ at 3:19 pm. Presently it is 4.4℃ at 6:15 pm. I better get my shit and seeds together soon. My valentine is preparing our supper. No long stem rose.

WINTER WONDERLAND/SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW

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It’s another day, another Log Cabin square, another ski, and now another post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I thought I would show off our winter wonderland. I do love our winters. Most of these photos were taken at the Sutherland Dog Park. Sheba loved running on the frozen South Saskatchewan in the winter. We encountered a red fox here on Christmas eve in 2009. I had thought it was a dog as it streaked past us towards the river. No person followed after and it never came back. That was when I realized it must have been a fox.

I am missing my puppy girl now and again and for always. That is how it is with love. But I know she is happy somewhere over the rainbow. I know she will visit me again.

THE HEART OF ME

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It’s February 8, 2021. Almost 5:30. Yet the sun is still present in the livingroom. It will vanish in a minute or two but I love this almost perfect beautiful golden moment. Everything, including myself, is in alignment from head to toe. I am so happy we went out for our ski, despite the frigid temperature. The sun was brilliant. It is the kind of weather that agrees with me the most. I feel energized, without my aches and pains. The snow was the best, too. It didn’t stick to the bottom of my skis and I felt the glide. The mask was perfect keeping my lungs from the cold air. I didn’t have to taste the wool of a scarf.

Chinese New Year will arrive on February 12. It is the year of the ox. I don’t know what it means. I take it that we all must be strong, like the ox, and do our best to keep safe and do the utmost not to spread the Coronavirus. We must, like good citizens of the earth, do our part to help regreen the planet. This is my hope for this year of the ox. February is also heart month. The heart needs exercise as much as the rest of our body.

I like to stretch my heart muscles by being kinder, more loving and understanding of others. I know that sometimes I think I am all of those things. I know I over estimate and give myself too much credit. It is hard to take myself out of me and look at things and others dispassionately, without prejudice and preconceived ideas. It is a good thing to remember. I would like to spend time to observe and explore how I can change and be more heartful through this Ultimate Blog Challenge.