motivation

I know that I have fallen away from my blog. I have no real excuse, except that I'm feeling very blah these days. I think of things to post, but then just don't do it. Art says it's because I'm too picky and maybe he's right. I "think" so much about a task until it's just too much work and I'm tired before I start. I claim that I'm busy, but sometimes I have to ask myself "with what?". I do an awful lot of thinking and not a whole lot of doing.

Of course, being in a slump begets being in a slump. Part of it has to do with no money and a huge debt burden, part of it has to do with allowing myself to change from an athlete to an overweight couch potatoe. And the longer that goes on the worse it gets.

So, we sold our house. Even though that will solve our debt problem I am still very sad. Letting go is not something that I do very well, so I've been reading on the subject. I really like this piece I found on http://www.lifehack.org/.

"......moving forward always means leaving something behind; often something you don’t much want to let go. I frequently meet people who tell me they are on the edge of some great endeavor. Yet they never get started, because they’re waiting: waiting to finish something they’re involved in; waiting to feel sufficiently secure to take the risk; waiting until their children are grown, or their spouse doesn’t need to travel so much; waiting for enough savings to hold onto; waiting for the right time.

There isn’t a right time. There’s now, there’s sometime, and there’s never. Any time you start to think about starting, there will inevitably be something in your way: something important you don’t want to give up . It’s human to want to have it all: the exciting job; being a terrific parent; becoming a leading light in the community; and writing the Great American/Australian/British/Canadian Novel at the same time. Get a grip, my friend. It’s not possible. Choices will always require you to leave other options behind, probably for ever.

A good part of the skill of living is the willingness to let things go without regret. Choose what seems best, acknowledge what you may have to give up to obtain it, and get on with your life. Don’t look back. Not now, not ever. Banish thoughts about what might have been. It wasn’t. Besides, whatever you imagine would have happened is virtually certain to be wrong. People usually believe the roads they didn’t take would have been better than the ones they did. It’s just as likely those roads would have been far worse; or more or less the same.

Above all, don’t join in the national pastime of synchronized whining about the difficulties preventing you from doing what you really want. Either get on with it, if you truly want to, paying the price it demands and enjoying whatever you achieve; or shut up and accept you aren’t willing to pay, so you can’t have the goods. You cannot have it all. Get used to it."

I like it a lot. The writer is Adrian Savage, an English author and retired business executive who lives in Tucson, Arizona. For the next little while I am adopting his mantra....

"It’s not what you plan to do that comes first, it’s what you’re willing to give up to make time and space to do it."

I had to put a sweater on

Yow-zah! I have to admit....it's getting nippy out there. I don't know what the little weather icon on my blog is reading right now, but this is what it is as I am writing this..... We've got a trickle running from the kitchen tap, just in case the pipes decide to freeze before Art can get the heater on up at Gramma's.

We didn't get anything like Vancouver did yesterday. A tiny bit of snow, but mostly just hurricane winds. The skies are clear and sunny now, but according to this "warning" it ain't over yet.

moose at play

As I was looking out the kitchen window I saw these black blobs running through the trees just above our east pasture. Without waiting to see what it was I just grabbed my video camera and ran outside. I love what I captured on film .... a cow moose and her two calves .... playing! Any other time I've seen a moose it pretty much just stands there and does nothing. These guys are having a hoot of a good time.

There was another couple of minutes after this, which I also taped, but it's not as interesting. They continue to walk around, Mom digs up some shoots for them, they jump the fence and wander around some more. If you really want to see it I'll post it, but this clip is the fun stuff.

PayPal

I know, I know, I know. I'm taking forever to get this blog updated. It'll be Easter at the rate I'm going. I'm working on it, but first, I couldn't let this one pass by.....

I'm trying to buy something on ebay for the first time. I'm trying to use PayPal and to make a very long story short the whole thing has been a fiasco. As I was surfing their website I came upon this and ..... well ..... frankly, it's got me a little nervous.
(note the portion I yellow hi-lited...)YIKES!!! Don't tick off PayPal.

Christmas

Thank God it's over. Not the part about having the kids here. I LOVE that part. But the rest of it ..... I'm glad that's over. The push, push, push to spend, spend, spend. The pressure, the hype. I hate it. Not to mention the nuts in the family that go even a little nuttier (let's not even go there). And I don't have it NEAR as bad as some folks I know. No wonder it has the opposite effect of what it's supposed to. Maybe this one was a little harder than usual because it's the first one without my Mom. Not that I would have seen her, but I would have talked to her on the phone. Having no money was a strain, too. I made gifts, which was fun to do and felt good to give, but it still seemed inadequate somehow. I know that's silly, and not true at all, but I think that's part of the result of being bombarded by television commercials and having those unrealistic expectations beaten into our brains. I propose that there be no TV watching next year. Record everything and watch it later, sans commercials. But I can't blame it all on that. I need to find a different way to look.

Anyhoo, having Sara and Kevin here made it all bearable. They're young and fun and just a plain old joy to have around (Lucy, their new dog, had us a bit jumpy but she's a puppy so is still learning stuff. Besides, being suddenly introduced to 4 cats can make a girl pretty excited). Sara has a way, even though she may not know it, of keeping me grounded. She does help me see different ways to look at things. So, even though I know that the rest of your Christmas was WAY crazier than mine, Sara.... thanks.

Now....I don't want this blog to be heavy and sad. So, in a little while I'm going to post some pictures of the fun stuff we did over "the holidays"....which was "Christmas" by the way for all those P.C. people out there. But that's another subject.