Moving

Happy Monday everyone!  It has been very hot here--too hot for me to spend much time outside.  It seems like we had three months of March and now have jumped right into a deep hot summer!  I pray it isn’t this hot until autumn.

Today’s topic is moving.  I know folks that have moved many times in their lives.  I think one of my brothers has had 13 moves in his adult life.  I have had 7 moves in my adult life and that includes where I lived while I was going to college.  When I was growing up, I think the longest I lived in one house was 8 years, so we moved a lot, when I was a kid.  Mind you, the last house my father was in, before the lovely one he lives in now, I think he was in for 30 years.

I spent this past Friday and Saturday, helping my oldest daughter move.  Now, when I say help, I mean essentially I drove the van and helped with a few things.  Even that was more than enough to warrant several days of resting my MS.  Truly, the only real reason why I drove a van from where I am to there, which is 120 km (75 miles), is that I had furniture from here to take and furniture to pick up from Ikea on the way.  We then cleaned her new place, added some more furniture from the old place to the load and did the first load into the new place.  I got to sleep at the new place on the cuddle couch because there was no bed yet and was able to let in the internet guy in the Saturday morning, who took literally seconds to get the WiFi working.

We had guys to help us put three pieces of furniture together and picked up the second (and last!) load from the old place.  We got everything into the new place and quite a bit put away, but I had to call it a day and do the long trek back home, where I gassed up the van and dropped it off.  Mission accomplished!

I think this is my last move, though.  Even with what little I did, I was exhausted, and still am.  I had a dear friend visit for much of the day yesterday, and my honey cooked lunch and dinner, so I could just relax and catch up.  Today, despite paying a premium for hydro, I had to get laundry done.  And, of course, I have a book I am trying to finish!

I was trying to really take June, July and August off, but it seems I have at least one day a week booked through June.  Oh well, at least it is only one day a week!  My deacons course starts in June as well.  I’m really excited about that.

I have heard from many people that retirement is busy. They are right!  Stuff just slips in, to take the place of work.  It is so true for me!  Never a dull moment it seems.

I pray for a gentle week for all and may your own moves go smoothly, when the time comes.  God bless!

My Daily Visitors

All My Animal Friends

Happy Sunday!  What could I possibly write about on such a beautiful day? Well, the sweet little birds and creatures that come to visit my home daily, of course!

When I bought the house, I had a UV film put on the back and front windows of the house on the main floor.  The intent was to save on the energy bills and help the furniture, rugs and things from fading so quickly.  The added bonus, was that during the day, the windows look like a mirror from the outside.  The plus to that is, of course, that people can’t look inside, but that is only during the daytime.  At night, you can see right in.

So, I got this great idea that I could feed some of our feathered friends at the windows and they wouldn’t see the cats and be frightened away.  I began to do that on our back deck, which is on the second story of the house.  Well, of course, there was bird poop everywhere!  Not very appealing, when you want to sit outside.

I then decided to have the film put on the downstairs windows at the back of the house and feed the birds on the patio.  We don’t go out there very often, so I wasn’t worried about the poop everywhere, that gets washed away with the rain.

Through trial and error, I have discovered that the best way to feed my visitors, is with small dog dishes.  One for the peanuts for the blue jays and one with seeds and things for the smaller birds.  I even put out a big dog dish, with hard cat food that my critters don’t like, hoping to attract the rabbits and other critters.  Did you know that seagulls would rather eat cat food, than bird food.  Hm, I guess they will eat anything.

So, when I come down for my workout in the morning, I fill the bowls and have many visitors, while I work out.  I have a rabbit that comes to visit, two chipmunks, a robin or two (I thought they only ate worms, but it seems they eat seeds too), some blue jays, mourning doves and the odd seagull.  Oh and I also get a bird that I was told was a starling, but when I looked him up they are common gackles.   I’m not too crazy about the gackles.  They are quite mean to the other birds and chase them away.

I have to say that having these visitors makes me quite happy.  It’s nice to see the cats’ reactions, although the cats are getting quite weary of the visitors--you’ve see one bird you’ve see them all?  They only seem to be interested in the chipmunks and the blue jays.

We don’t get as many of the visitors in the winter, but we do get a couple.  I just don’t need to fill the bowls as often.

Below are pictures of my cats enjoying the birds.  Enjoy and God bless!

Mother's Day Continued

Happy Saturday dear friends!  It’s quite rainy here in the resort town of Cobourg.  Tomorrow, I am headed to Huntsville with my honey.  He has a two day conference there on Monday and Tuesday, so we have a bit of a getaway!  But that is why I am doing my weekly blog on a Saturday, while my laundry is being taken care of my the washer and dryer upstairs.

I thought I would continue the Mother’s Day theme that I began last week, where you got to hear how I became a mother.  I left off where Gary left me to raise the girls on my own when Kaitlyn was four months old.  Well, that was over 23 years ago!  Quite a bit has happened since then!

Now I have two lovely women that I am proud to call my daughters!  They have both been living on their own for about four years, as they did not want to leave the city life, when I moved with my honey to the resort town of Cobourg.

I loved the time when they were little, we had a lot of fun.  I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, when they were almost two and four.  It was just another challenge thrown our way, but despite that and raising them on my own, we did a lot of things together and had a lot of fun.  They learned to bake from the time they were old enough to stand on a chair at the counter with me.  We did a lot of craft stuff over the years.  Essentially, I did the things that didn’t require much movement, as the MS slowed me down that way.

Their father did the park stuff.  At least he did for a while. When My oldest was 14, she decided that she could no longer take the negativity she got from her father.  No matter what she did, it seemed to be wrong to him.  They would spend every other weekend at his home, and then he would take them to dinner every Wednesday and tell them everything they did wrong.  Not fun.  It was difficult for Alysse to stop seeing him, as she adored him, but the negativity was just too much.  For Kaitlyn, because she didn’t remember him ever living with us and never really felt a connection, she was just as happy to never see him again.

So, then I was mother and father, I guess.  The plus side of that is that you can’t be criticized for the way you deal with your kids by the other parent, but the negative side is that it is entirely your own fault, if they become a burden to society.  It seems I did okay, that way.  At one time, I thought I was a great mother, then things happened and I thought I was an okay mother and then I thought I was a terrible mother.  It seems my kids have set me straight.  We have had discussions about it.  They, without even being pressed!, tell me that I was a great mother and that they have grown into strong women because of it.  That makes me very happy.

I hear a lot from my older daughter, not so much from my Kaitlyn.  But she was always the more independent one.  I don’t sit around waiting for contact.  I am just happy that they are able to manage on their own and know that they are missed and welcome to come visit any time.  I do try to get into the city to visit with them every now and then.

It is a wonderful thing to follow your children’s lives and know that you had a hand in who they have become and be able to be proud of that.  We have had our challenges through the years and we have learned from those and carried on.

My oldest, Alysse, as I have likely said before, is a hairstylist and a very good one.  She does mostly weddings and just loves it.  My youngest, Kaitlyn, just graduated from Ryerson University with a BComm in Retail Management.  She is currently working at Saks Fifth Avenue, but is looking for something in her chosen field, which I hope she finds!

Well, folks that wraps up this week’s blog.  I’ll have to think of a topic for next week, when I get to see my sister from British Columbia, with her lovely little daughter.  I am so looking forward to seeing them.

So, God bless all of you this week

Happy Mother's Day!

It’s raining a bit here in the resort town of Cobourg, but a lovely Sunday none-the-less.  Being Mother’s Day, I thought it time to come clean, as it were, as to how I became a mother.

I have mentioned many times how I raised my girls on my own from the time my youngest was four months old.  But, how did I get there?

I was married to Gary in 1987.  We had talked about having kids sometime and although we both turned 29 that year, I didn’t feel the need to rush into having kids.  In 1989, Gary’s best friend and his wife had a son and Gary decided it was time for us to have kids. I would have prefered to wait for another year or two, but agreed.  I got pregnant fairly quickly and was settling into the idea of having our first child, which was due late in March of 1990.

When I was about eight months pregnant, Gary confessed to me that he was seeing someone else.  I was devastated and gave serious consideration to giving up the child for adoption, because I truly believed that two parents would have more success at raising a child than one.  Gary said that he and Litsa would raise the child.  Well, that was it!  I wasn’t about to have that woman raise my child, so I prepared myself for what I expected to be single parenting.

I should point out that although I am pro choice, I could never abort my own child and at eight months along, it wasn’t possible anyway.  I just knew myself and if I took one look at the child, I would never be able to let go, so it was either give my baby to Gary and Litsa to raise, or do my best.

It turned out that Litsa dumped Gary, because she was feeling guilty about the whole thing, so Gary stayed with me, and I consoled him over the breakup--I’m such an idiot!  Well, time goes on and I’m feeling like I’m walking on eggshells all the time, wondering if Gary will stray again.

In 1991, Gary asks me to have another child.  I pondered on that for about three months, because I was never sure that he was going to stay, but motherhood got the better of me and I agreed to have number two, because I really wanted two kids anyway.  Well, by the time I was into the second pregnancy, I knew things weren’t right again, although I couldn’t seem to drag it out of him.  By the time I went into labor, I debated whether or not to even tell him, or just go and have the child on my own, as I expected to be on my own anyway.  Well, I did tell him and he spent the time at the hospital on the phone for work.  So, I pretty much had my second on my own.

When Kaitlyn was a week and a half old, Gary had been particularly sharp with Alysse several times that day, so I sat him down and dragged it out of him.  He was leaving and I was to raise the girls on my own.  He told me that he never loved me and that he thought that having kids would make it better.  I have always thought that was more of a female view, but what the heck do I know anyway.

Well, Gary moved out when Kaitlyn was four months old and Alysse was 19 months old, and I have raised the girls on my own.  I don’t regret a moment of it!  I enjoyed every achievement they ever had and was there to dry every tear.  They are my life and although we have been through many challenges together, all three of us are the stronger for it.

So, it seems that although I was talked into becoming a mother and then left to do it all myself, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I send blessings to every mother out there.  Going it alone can be more of a challenge than sharing the load, but we have all done the best that we can.  God bless!

Blessings and Challenges

Good Sunday morning!  It’s a rainy day here, but it will help to green the grass and bring up more of my spring flowers.  The glass is always half full for me!

I read something somewhere speaking to the optimist (the glass is half full) and the pessimist (the glass is half empty), pointing out that the glass is refillable!  It is true!  Even once it is completely full and you drink what is there and you can refill it.  That is the same with blessings and challenges.  At least that is what I believe.

As I seek to find my ‘spiritual voice’ I allow these thoughts to wash over me and try to find a means of voicing them on Facebook as a prayer and, dare I say it, wisdom.  What wisdom could I possibly have to impart on anyone?  Well, I pray that with the many experiences, a bit of googling and through prayer, I can come up with something every day that will resonate with someone.  If you wish to follow me on Facebook, you will find my (almost!) daily prayers here:  https://www.facebook.com/Janet-K-Warren-1466394873573878/

I am taking a prosperity course.  Well, it is about radical abundance, and we can be wanting abundant anything--money is of course, the one that pops to mind, but we might also be seeking the abundance of other things like friends, wisdom, fame.  Really anything.  Every class, we talk about our challenges of the previous week.  I have so few and they seem to be so miniscule, that I cannot even bring any to mind.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have had some big challenges in my life--single parenthood, near bankruptcy a couple of times, the multiple sclerosis.  But I have managed to get through all of them.  The latest challenge, is the surprise retirement.  Can I manage to live on the pension?  Well, it seems that if I didn’t have others to help out, I would be fine, but even that I am managing (no travelling in retirement just yet!).

We all have challenges and we all have the ABILITY to get through them.  Sometimes we don’t feel that we have that ability, but we do, and I believe that at least some of that ability lies in being thankful for the blessings that we do have.  I was telling the story recently that when times were tough, I liked to get money from the Royal Bank bank machine.  That was before they started to charge you to do that, if it wasn’t your bank.  I liked the Royal Bank machine because at that time, they could give you $5 bills!  When you need to get food for your kids, sometimes that is enough.  What a blessing!

It is also through our challenges that we come to truly appreciate the blessings, no matter how small.  Our greatest blessings are the people in our lives.  Well, truthfully, some can be a challenge, but mostly, they are a blessing and those that are a challenge to us, perhaps, we are the blessing to them.

Those of us who try to be blessings to others try to help those people see the other blessings in their lives, as well.  We are surrounded by blessings and challenges and need to be thankful for all of them.  Even as I write this, I curse the poorly functioning MS fingers that have caused the backspace key to be my greatest blessing!  I have learned to find the little blessings in all of my MS challenges, the greatest of which is all of the people in the MS community that I have met, including some that I have been able to help, with my little bit of wisdom learned through my own MS challenges.

So, folks, please be thankful for not only your blessings, but your challenges and I believe that you will attract your own abundance of whatever you need.  At least that is a start!  Every journey begins with that first step, followed by the next, and the next and the next.  We need to begin somewhere.  

God bless all of you and may your blessings outweigh your challenges!