Tag Archives: the Ultimate Blog Challenge

MY BOWL RUNNETH OVER

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It’s a chilly day 6 of February and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I woke up to a -33 Celsius outside and a -24.7 Celsius in our solar passive greenhouse. The cold killed all our outdoor solar motion sensor lights. I hope they come back when it’s warmer. Yesterday, the cold drained the battery on my iPhone. It lasted till I finished my ski. I was able to time my 2 laps around the park. The sun is bright and sunning. It’s warmed a degree outside and it is considerably warmer in the greenhouse, a balmy -6.3 degrees Celsius. I will probably have to wait till March to plant in there.

I’ve nixed the idea of skiing today. I do want to go but it would be a stupid idea with a windchill of -41 degrees Celsius. I have this addictive nature but I can stop. I’m sipping my tea and tapping a few words. I have dough bubbling and rising in the kitchen. It is spilling over. I have to run and tend to it.

So much for organization. I’m back but it is bedtime. Too late to go into the details of the bread making. Perhaps that’s a post for another day. All my bread is tucked in their bags and in the fridge/freezer. I was perhaps over zealous with my baking. I did my usual 6 loaves of whole wheat and 2 loaves of sourdough. It’s a good way of warming the house on a bitterly cold day. I also want to make good use of the oven, baking the sourdough right after the whole wheat comes out. Right after that, I slide in a tray of egg shells to dry them and crushing them after for the garden.

The bread making was no problem. That part was enjoyable. It was the cleaning up and putting away that’s really draining. I hung in there till it was all done. I admit I was feeling a bit testy at the end. But all is well. A glass of wine with supper, a hot shower,a movie and popcorn smoothed my ruffled feathers. I even managed to do my Log Cabin square for the100dayproject. Now I’m finished for the day.

KNOW WHEN TO STOP

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It’s Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. There certainly is an increased traffic on the site. It leaves me a bit breathless, feeling unsure if I can keep up. It doesn’t help that I’ve just come back from our daily cross country ski. We decided to change the scenery and went to a different park with a ski trail. It was alot longer than I had bargained for. I had trouble getting up a little hill and ended up on my backside. I’ve enough experience now that I know how to get up. I just need some time just to lay there and gather my thoughts, look up at the sky and rest.

Some kind hearted man and woman happened to witness my downfall. The man gave me verbal instructions. The woman, I’m not sure she was his wife, kept coming at me to give me a hand even though I was adamant I didn’t need help. I wasn’t even thinking of Covid. I could get up by myself. He finally had to hold her back. It made me wonder if she has some sort of dementia. She never spoke. I’m not sure if I felt more assured by his telling me that they were vaccinated. Why did he tell me that? I think it made me feel more anxious. I try to reassure myself that though neither of us were masked, we were outside. I was breathing a bit heavy but they weren’t. I know I am ok.

That reminds me that I probably should have a mask for these unexpected events. If I had one on my pocket, I could have put it on. I need to keep one in the car, too. I righted myself, took off one ski and climbed up that damned slippery slope and back on the trail. I could see the guy’s yellow jacket way over yonder where our car was parked. I wondered how long to get over there. Soon I could see that I was getting further and further away, in the opposite direction of where our car was. I cursed under my breath and turned my skis around. It was a good thing he came for me in the car. He found me as I was crossing the road. Otherwise, I probably would still be out on the trail – in the dark.

I am tired and a bit disgruntled. But I’m still in this challenge and the100dayproject. My third log cabin square look pretty good. My squares look like stained glass windows. 100 log cabin squares will make a beautiful queen sized quilt. My order of supplies came from Amazon came this afternoon. I must admit that I was a little disappointed. I was expecting 30 quilting fabric clips along with seam rippers and whatnot. I only got 9. That kind of put a knot in my panities. I sent off a note to Amazon in the hopes of getting the other 21 clips.

I’ve had a full day. Time to pack it in. I need a little rest. My hands are sore from all the ripping apart of old clothes to make into new and from gripping my ski poles. Sometimes when I get going, I don’t know when to stop. I have to do it now.

THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

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It is February 1, 2021. A new month and another Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have been a participant for a number of years now. Why am I doing it? Mostly because I love writing. It’s a practice that gives me structure to the day. I can work out problems and ease some of my angst on the page. I meet other bloggers and exchange views and ideas. It leads to community, sharing and helping each other. Writing and posting photos gives me a lot of pleasure. That alone is a good reason to join in. A challenge is a commitment. I’m more prone to deliver and succeed. So here’s to a month of writing a post every day. I wish all the participants success. I’m looking forward to reading their posts.

What am I going to write about? In the past, I had no plan at all. I sit down with my cup of tea and start a conversation. Sometimes I use the prompt our moderator sends out. I might very well do the same again. Off the cuff, a chat over tea. But I do have a bit of a plan. I’m in another challenge – the100dayproject. I am making a quilt square a day for that. I might talk about sewing and quilting things. February is heart month. There’s many heart issues I could talk about. February is also the time to start seeds. And then there’s cross country skiing I took up at the end of November. I’ve had a few mishaps and exciting moments to share.

It’s good that I started tapping away at the keyboard. Ideas and topics pop up. There’s so many things I could talk about and blog on. I can be quite a chatter box once I get going. Later in as I learn, I could talk about the whys, hows and rewards of keeping commitments. It’s going to be an exciting month. I am so glad that I’ve entered the challenge. I was getting slack and going silent. It could have gotten to be a bad habit. Now I don’t have to worry.

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DAY 31 – THE FINISH LINE

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The Finish Line

At long last the end of the road. This is it for the Ultimate Blog Challenge in October. I’ve done a good job. I did what I said I was going to do – my best. I had a beginning, middle and an end. I had goals. They gave me directions each day. They led me to the finish line.

There were days when I faltered, when I didn’t feel like it, when I was tired, when I was…blah, blah, blah. Sometimes I am just full of excuses, but I pushed through them this month. I have many unfinished projects. I have this bad habit of incompleteness, unable to follow through even on simple things. That’s why I am such a clutter bug. I don’t put things away. I don’t throw things away. I don’t…You get the drift. This writing challenge has helped me to see this part of myself. I can now move on to do some corrections.

A fellow challenger had a post on the benefits of making lists. It resonated with me. I kept the post up on my tab for many a days. I would read it again and again. It appealed to me. I saw the value of what was said. Though I never did make lists literally, I made them in my head. I would decide a few things that I would do for that particular day. I was not religious about it. I didn’t do it every day but I did it enough that it came back again and again.

That’s the thing. If we do healthy actions regularly, they would become habits. When they do, we wouldn’t have to struggle so much in doing the right thing. Life would be easier. We would be healthier and happier. That’s the end products I’m aiming for. These days of writing regularly made me more aware of my thoughts and feelings. I pay more attention to what I say and do. I ask myself more questions. Do I want to say/do this? Do I need to say/do that? What difference would it make? I think questioning has made me wiser and choose better ways of being. It made me see that I had been doing the same thing over and over. Yet I was expecting a different outcome. Dummkopf!

I am in the honeymoon phase of enlightenment. It’s like being in the throes of first love. I hope I won’t crash. I know it is possible. I have had that feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even if I do, I know the landing will be softer this time. For now, I will enjoy my euphoria. I saw the big fat moon last night. I saw it again this morning. I even saw the stars. We are stardust. We are golden. Song of Joni Mitchell.

DAY 29 UBC -ALMOST THERE

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Almost There

It is raining. I’m glad I got my walk in before it started. I’m here but I don’t know how to get started. You would think the rain would be a good conversation starter. It isn’t. Maybe if I get up and pace a bit. Trying too hard can be counter productive so I might as well just tap my usual drivel. Two more days left to the Ultimate Blog Challenge after today. I’m almost there.

I’m not terribly rested and chirpy having had a day to do as I please. I feel cranky as can be. Maybe I shouldn’t think about days off. I should just keep trucking along life’s highway. I was happy on my walk through the park near the school. It was good to see so many kids out playing and laughing, wearing their masks. I never saw so many children playing outside before Covid.

There are some good side effects from this pandemic time. It’s not all gloom and doom. Maybe we could work our way back to engage and live life instead of watching reality shows on TV. Maybe we can use this time in ‘lock down’ to find solutions to reverse climate change and have a greener planet. There are so many maybes but it’s good to throw them out there. It’s better than crying over what we have lost. Those are the things that we probably didn’t value before. If we did, we would have taken better care, wouldn’t we?

I am cranky and irky but I am not unhappy, depressed or despairing. I like challenges. These times are challenging but when is it not? We should just get over ourvelves and get to work. Our greenhouse is almost finished. I am looking forward to seeding and growing greens. The temperature in it was 30 degrees Celsius the other day with the sun shining. I’m excited. I think I can grow greens even in winter. I found a gardener on YouTube who could in -31 C without heat. I’m pumped.

DAY 28 UBC – SOME DAYS ARE HEAVIER THAN OTHERS

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Some Days Are Heavier Than Others

Another day in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m later than usual. I almost forgot but I’m here now. Been a busy week, trying to keep up with everything. I had to forgo my walk yesterday and today. That’s the thing. I have to be flexible and just do my best. Sometimes that best is less. But I do exercise everyday. Yesterday it was swimming. Today it was my aerobics class with weights. Tomorrow I will walk.

All my toilet paper and paper towel arrived from Costco yesterday. There was a maple syrup thrown in to make up the cost eligible for free delivery. It was a big load, worth the extra cost for delivery right to the door. Now I’m set for winter. The days will be less weighty not having to run around shopping and lugging bulky items home. It’s good to be focused and have a plan. Even the little outing I had yesterday with my parents to get their flu shots and to pick up a few things tired me out. Sometimes you don’t realize how much extra energy this Covid thing eats up.

I’m glad that tomorrow is a day off. Aside from a walk, I am not committed to doing anything. I have soup made for lunch already. I’ve done enough baking this week. We’ve polished off all the pumpking chocolate chip muffins I made. I made 2 batches of sourdough buns the other day. My best and easiest so far. You can see the bubbles in my dough. And the Jerusalem artichokes are taken care of. They’re pickled. They do not keep long before going soft. You can only eat so many at one time. It’s a good reason they dubbed them fartychokes! Fermenting is suppose to take the fart out. Let’s see it is true. Time will tell.

It is getting late. I best say good night. I hope this is an easy read. I will be back tomorrow for day 29.

DAY 27 UBC – BE INSPIRED

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Be Inspired

I’m counting the days, 4 more days after today till the end of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I don’t sound very inspiring, do I? It is the time of day. I’m tired. I sound like a lot of my nursing colleagues doing the count down to their retirement. I never did that. I enjoyed working. Now that I’m retired, I don’t miss working at all. I guess it’s my motto. Enjoy whatever you are doing. Enjoy wherever in the world or whatever stage of life you’re in. Change whatever you are not having a good time at. If you don’t, don’t tell me about it.

Somehow I was inspired to go for an early swim this morning. I set my alarm for 6:15 am. I woke on my own at 5:45 and made it to the pool at 6:30. I had contemplated a cuppa tea before hand but talked myself out of it. It’s one of my procrastination ploys. A cuppa could lead me to comfort and nesting. Before I would know it, I would push that cancel button on the app. So I picked up my packed swim bag and headed out in the dark of the morning. I was surprised to see that it was still dark going to my car after my swim.

The parking lot looked so pretty with the spruce trees and street lamps. It looked almost holy and Christmassy. I almost want to break out in song. I felt fist pumping good. I was glad to make the early bird effort. The pool was busy and I met a couple of new ladies. They were inspiring. They were fast, swimming around me. One announced that she got her 30 lengths in shortly after I got there. I went WOW! She swims every day and looked older than me. I was super impressed.

In this Covid time, it is good to keep fit physically and mentally. Everyone has to weigh the risks and benefits of going to the gym or pool. I feel very safe at our YWCA. It has a weight room, gym and a pool. I trust the staff and the clientele. We take care to keep ourselves and each other safe. For those who are not comfortable to attend in person, there’s virtual classes. Then there’s always the great outdoors. Just put your shoes on and go for a walk.

DAY 25 UBC – HOW DOES ONE REST AND HOW MUCH TOILET PAPER DO WE NEED?

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How Much Toilet Paper Do We Need?

Sunday, a day of rest. It’s what I hope for. But how does a person actually rest? In my younger days, I used to sleep in, sometimes after 10 am. When I’m up, I linger over my toast and tea, listening to CBC radio. In the afternoon, there’s Oprah and soaps. In the evening there’s Law and Order, Criminal Minds, etc. I seem to thrive on crime shows and books. Somehow they relax me and chase away the blues if they’re visiting.

Now if I awake after 7, I consider it late. Lately, not having Sheba as an alarm clock and my blackout curtains, I’ve been sleeping in till 7. It feels late and wasteful. I still linger over my first cup of tea but I do not know how to sit with nothing after breakfast. I was still fussing about the non-existence of toilet paper of any brand at Costco the other day. Are we into scarcity and hoarding again? I was really irked, especially at myself for not thinking and planning ahead.

We’ve had a pretty good summer, Covid and otherwise. We weathered the first part of if well, too. So why are we doing this again? It’s like an avalanche. I can see and understand how it can happen. One or two people starts. Then another and another. Well, I better stock up or there won’t be any left. It’s the stuff of the not-good-kind of herd mentality. And I’ve caught the bug, too. I needed something to do after breakfast. I went to the Costco’s online site. There’s still some toilet paper and paper towels available. It’s good that they set a limit of one per customer. So I ordered one kind of toilet paper for ourselves and a different kind for my parents. To offset the delivery I added paper towels and maple syrup to my order.

I am paying a little more than in person shopping. It’s worth it not having to trudge from one place to another to see who has toilet paper. And it’s delivery right to the door. No need of huffing and puffing, lugging awkward large packages into the car, then out of the car into the house. Now that I got that out of my system, maybe I can figure out how to rest.

DAY 19 UBC – COME TO THE TABLE

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Come to the Table

There are indeed so many things to do, some that are needed and some that I want to do. There is really no time to be maudlin. I have to remind myself that the next time I get the blues. I know that right in the moment of those feelings, it is difficult to rise above it. Then I have to remind myself it’s okay. I’m just being human. I can have a rainy day to rest from the sun. Not all days are equal. We need the sun and we need the rain equally.

I’m sitting here, late in the day again, tapping out another post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I have no idea of what to write until I come to the table and begin. That is my biggest tool in life – to come to the table and start. I have to show up and make a move, however small it is. I think I outdid myself. It’s one of my best days in a long time. The Challenge is working, helping me change the way I talk. I’m finding positives instead of griping about the negatives all the time.

D0 you know that birds change their tunes? Apparently the male Savannah sparrows are changing their songs to attract ‘the ladies’. They are singing different songs than their ancestors did 30 years ago. If they can change their tunes, so can I. It’s not going to happen overnight. It will take some doing. I will take it one day at a time. I stumbled already today. I felt terrible over my misstep and berated myself. I gave myself a talk and forgave me for being human. That’s how it’s going to be.

This morning I had no idea of what to make for lunch. It’s such a headache sometimes especially when the larder is scant. Then I remembered we have some ham with a bone left. Why don’t I make soup? There’s some limp celery in the fridge. The ham triggered thoughts of pork and beans. I can taste it with the thought. We have Swedish beans, carrots and onions we grew ourselves. Then the guy harvested some of our Jerusalem artichokes. Well, guess what? I had a whole Instant Pot full of good stuff. It made a delicious soup served over rice noodles.

All this reminds me that when we think we are scraping the bottom of the barrel, it is not true. We have a lot of stuff in us to take us where we want to go. I’m almost scraping the bottom now. I’ve done lots besides making soup. I planted the garlic and mulched them. Hope it’s not too late. Then there are the perennial beds that needed to be put to bed. Our daytime temperatures are now in the minuses. Now it is time to say good night and God bless.

Day 2 Ultimate Blog Challenge – The Pleasure of Showing up

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Oct 2/2020

The Pleasure of Showing Up

So here it is, the 2nd day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m eager to start my day. I’m ready to put the pedal to the metal and wham! I’m faced with an obstacle, a huge stumbling block. WordPress has changed – with no instructions. Egad! Life is like that. This is art imitating life. I best just get on with it and tap. I’m here. Let me enjoy the experience of trial and error. It’s what I’m good at – tapping without instructions.

I’m a little disconcerted at the moment. It might take me a little to get this post together. I’m faced with a big blank page without all those gizzmo. There are no sidebars. It’s like swimming in the ocean. No edge of the pool to hang on to in case of drowning. But I’ve uploaded a cover photo. I like it. I can write on it. I can move it to left, right or middle. So far I haven’t figured out how to resize it. No matter. It looks good. I can go like this for the whole month. And sometimes the things you need just pop out at you in the moment. I’ve just found where the word count is clicking on the i with a circle around it. Life can be fun and informative if you show up.

I have this motto: No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up. I borrowed it from Regina Brett. It’s a pretty good one and she is a pretty neat lady. Wow, I found how to add a link on this new WordPress thing-a-ma-jig! Now if I can figure out how to add tags, everything else would be a bonus. But carrying on, showing up is a big thing. Many times I’ve been present in body but not mind. I’m sure I’ve missed many moments but I’m not going to cry over spilt milk. Let me start from this moment, to be in the moment and appreciate what I have.

I love my early morning moments when the rest of the world is still asleep. I see my world through a clearer lens. The other morning I saw and felt the pleasure of my surroundings. I saw the sunlight playing on the wall and floor. I could see from my place in the sunroom – the dining room and all the way to the livingroom. I was fully present in the moment. It felt magical.

I think I have had enough fun for now. It is very cool, this new WordPress. I’ve discovered how to resize photos and where to add tags. I better quit while I’m ahead. I’ll be back for more fun tomorrow.