Friday, September 23, 2011

It's Friday! Thought for the day...

Funny, before I had a child I never realized that Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and The Alphabet Song (is that the real title?  Does it even have a title?) both had the same tune...

This doesn't sound like it would be problem, BUT IT IS!  In fact I just heard from the other room:

"ABCDEFGHIJKL (bear with me here...) MNOPQRSTUVWXYZ... Now I wonder what you are...."

Who ever thought that one up was either too lazy to think of their own tune or totally trying to screw with the little people.  Slow clap anonymous song writer, slow clap.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

We do it to ourselves...

Welcome to Adulthood!  You will now be faced with a series of extremely difficult and life-altering choices that look something like this:

  • Go to college - don't go to college
  • Get married - don't get married
  • Have kids - don't have kids
  • Have one kid - have more kids
  • Stay at home with the kid(s) - go back to work
Each decision with its own set of pros and cons, benefits and costs and frankly mind-blowing ramifications.  And yet, everyone usually has a strong opinion about each of these very personal choices (the key word here is personal... in case the italics didn't cover it) -- we call that judgement folks, otherwise known as 'should-ing'. 

So when faced with these decisions, they actually look something like this:
  • Go to college - don't go to college (but for heaven's sake MAKE A DECISION and god forbid you should ever change your mind!)
  • Get married - don't get married (AKA, you'd better get married lest you be livin' in SIN, Oh, and if you don't have a partner - WHY NOT?  WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?)
  • Have kids - don't have kids (In other words, you'd better be having them, and if you can't, WHY CAN'T YOU??? So there you are, left with the equally challenging option of fertility treatments - no fertility treatments or adopt - don't adopt)
  • Have one kid - have more kids (Well finally, you had one and WHAT?  You're even considering stopping there?  WHAT THE HELL?)
  • Stay at home with the kid(s) - go back to work (Well, aren't you lucky if this decision is even part of your reality you spoiled BRAT!)
Seem a little harsh?  Maybe, but in the past 14 years, I can honestly say that I have fielded questions in each of these categories and been met with similar responses - either real or perceived.  Yes, you read that correctly, I said real or perceived.  What I am trying to say is that yes, you will be judged by many others for any/all decisions that you make in life.  However, if you can forgive/accept yourself for making those choices (or avoiding them all together) then there won't be a problem.  In other words, be kind to yourself and the rest will follow...

Sounds simple enough, right?  It really is.  So ALLOW, and let go of JUDGEMENT (especially of yourself, but of others too).  And for pete's sake, quit 'should-ing' all over yourself!

Wishing you light and love as you make each of the 'tough' decisions...

Marebare

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Yet another recycling saga

You may recall that last year during my 'No Impact Week Challenge' I found out that soft plastics were a 'no-go' in terms of recycling... pretty much anywhere in this fine Province.  So you can just imagine my delight when I arrived at my recyling depot last week and found a sign stating that they are now accepting plastic bags.  Those of you who follow me on facebook might have seen my post about this miraculous day.  If you missed it, it read:

Best. Day. Ever. ... Okay, maybe not ever, but a great day nonetheless. My recycling depot is now accepting plastic bags!!! I have been saving any/all of those things for just the occasion. About 6 years. Yes, literally. It's the small things really...

You might be thinking to yourself, wow, is this chick ever DRAMATIC!  And, you would be right... remember, this is the same lady who uses CAPSlock for EVERYTHING and ellipses and exclamation points and... well, you get the point.  Anyway, needless to say, I was pretty stoked about the recycling development in my community.

For some reason, call it a whim, or call it intuition that somethings really ARE too good to be true, I decided to call the town prior to dropping of my latest recycling bags.  I think you know where I am going with this...  THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!  And actually, they were pretty indignant that I would suggest such a thing.  Soooooo, I proceeded to take all of the newly added bags out of my recycling pile (*sigh), and headed down to the recycling station with my iPhone handy... you know, just in case I was ACTUALLY RIGHT.  Which, ahem, I was:


Soooo, of course, I phoned the town again (they were a little less indignant this time), and believe it or not, I kept my cool.  Here was the forwarded e-mail reply from their service provider...

Yes, this bin is just being used as a switch while the regular bin's door
is repaired... this bin is from another area that accepts these materials
(even though no markets exist for most non-stamped film plastic (most
plastic bags fall under this category) and therefore much of this material
ends up being land-filled anyways -- which is why we don't accept it in our
program).

The proper bin will be placed back into service by the week after next at
latest.

Soooo, I guess this means I am back to storing 6 years worth of plastic bags (about a garbage bag full)... anyone have any brilliant ideas what I could/should do with them?

Marebare

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

These are a few of my favorite things... FALL edition

I love all of the seasons... I do, honest!  I know, I know, winter is way too long, spring is way too messy/dirty, fall is much too short and summer... what summer?  I have heard them all.  Listen here Canadians (and many Northern-dwelling Americans and anyone else who is fortunate enough to have FOUR seasons), we have it good.  I know, I know, the weather in Hawaii is fantastic every day of the year, however we couldn't very well all live on those tiny islands now could we?  So, let's embrace change and the cyclical nature of our existance... for each new season comes in bearing a whole host of gifts. 



Fall... ah fall.  Where I live, it is already here.  It arrived literally overnight as we closed the chapter of summer with one final week of above-average temperatures.  There are definite signs when fall is here, from the obvious visual resplendence of the leaves to the less obvious 'feel' in the air.  Autumn air is heavy with the smells of harvest and carries an unmistakable bite of chilliness... foreshadowing for the winter winds to come.  The air is also filled with the cacophony of geese, ducks and other birds who are 'getting the heck out of dodge'! 



The 'feast for the senses' described above is one of the reasons why I think Autumn is wonderful.  Here are some of my other favorite things about FALL:
  • Having fires in the woodstove once again
  • Sipping tea and curling up on the couch (preferably in the sun) reading a great book (I just finished a life-changing book: Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping)
  • Playing in the leaves (even more fun now with Chephren)

  • Jumping hay bails (What?  I didn't play enough as a kid and I am making up for it now)
  • Harvesting my garden (wellll... I don't love the actual harvesting part, but I LOVE the food!)

  • Firing up my crockpot and diving once again into soups, stews and other warm 'comfort' foods.
What do you love about Fall? 

Marebare