I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.
The nightmares have returned. I woke with a startle, breathing heavy at 3:45 AM according to my iPhone. My husband was sleeping peacefully so I dimmed the light on my iPhone then checked Twitter. Spotting a couple of tweets from one of the new folks I'm following drew me back into The Land of Not. My descent into this dark, almost void, lack luster state of mind has taken months to get to this point. Somewhere in the recesses of the nothingness, I realize this is not the place I want to be. I toss off the covers, quietly close the bedroom door, step on the scale the click on my pedometer. I make my way to the kitchen while seriously considering getting on the elliptical to escape thinking. Instead I made a cup of coffee and settled on the couch with the laptop.
I've been withdrawing for months, focusing on a couple of personal pursuits. The very thought of being around people fills me with dread so I avoid doing so. I'm even avoiding the drama of the forums I once enjoyed. Heavens, why some folks get their knickers in a knot over the simplest non-problem is beyond me! Instead of being around people, I lace up my runners to go for power walks. The ear buds, sunglasses and no nonsense fast pace is a clear indication that I have no desire to stop and chit chat.
Today is our anniversary. I need to be back in a better frame of mind! In the early morning hours, I did what I haven't done in months. I blogged! Whether blogging will draw me out of The Land of Not remains to be seen but for now, for today, it is a small step forward...
It's a typical cold, dreary, dull and grey November day here in beautiful Ontario, Canada. This is the type of day I don't like because of it's effect on my mood. The problem with November is there are more of these types of days than there are sunny ones. Our last house enhanced the effect of the grey days because it was a dark house with very little natural light, small windows and the main living area mostly below grade. In many ways, despite being a gorgeous house on beautiful waterfront property, it was very much like a dungeon.
Our new house is also a bi-level but it differs from our old house in that there is an abundance of natural light reducing the need for artificial lighting during the day, most days. The only rooms without natural lighting are both bathrooms and the utility room. We are installing a solar tube in the upper bathroom to bring in natural lighting but the other two rooms don't get enough use to worry about finding a solution for natural lighting.
While the constant greyness of November slowly drags by, I'm in countdown mode for our winter vacation in the sunny south. In the meantime, I'm busying myself with anything I can to keep my mind off the grey. There's still a lot of household organizing to do, paint colours to pick out and painting to do so that should keep me rather busy enough to not notice the grey so much.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
The general theme for my mood has been an unexplained restlessness since about mid-February. Perhaps the long, drawn out winter with considerably more days spent indoors is the explanation, somewhat like cabin fever. The endless days of everything being dull and grey certainly are not helping matters! Perhaps it is the stress of the house being on the market for so long, antsy to get things settled back into a normal routine. There's no doubt about it that keeping the house ready to show on short notice has affected my cooking style. Cooking has always been one of my major stress reducers so not being able to cook what I want, when I want for fear of lingering cooking odours or just bad timing is not sitting well with me at all. I've even reduced the amount of off-season canning in anticipation of moving since empty jars are easier to move than filled ones and I don't have to worry about being in the middle of canning something if there's an opportunity to show the house. The restlessness and lack of concentration are affecting my blogging to the point of just coming up with a topic is like pulling teeth. Ah well, this too shall pass...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
My gosh, where does time go? The first quarter of 2011 has ended, not so much as a lamb but not really a roaring lion either. The cold is hanging on and snow is still threatening. Like many, I will be glad to see the last of winter's chilly grip. The first three months of 2011 has been an eventful one for us. We were at our vacation home in the sunny south for the first week of 2011 then is was back to trying to sell our house while maintaining our daily routine. Despite several showings there still hasn't been an offer on the house so we won't be renewing the contract when it expires in a week. We experienced above average snowfalls with many a day of treacherous road conditions but thankfully none of our loved ones came to any harm. In mid-February I suffered a leg injury that kept me off my feet for two full weeks followed by painful hobbling for most of March. Here it is April 2 and my leg still looks horrid but I'm able to get around better.
I'm not sure how much of an influence my injury had on my mood but emotionally this has likely been the worst three months of my life in quite some time. I suppose the endless grey days combined with being housebound hasn't helped but I'm a homebody anyway so being at home doesn't really bother me. Not being able to cook for an extended period of time definitely adversely affected my mood. What really has affected it though is the long, drawn out winter. It's time for nice weather now. Let's go Mother Nature, get rid of the snow and bring us a nice spring so I can get out in the garden!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Some mornings I'm exactly as pictured - LOL. Honestly those are the days I'm behind before even getting up and it takes me until noon to wake up enough to function. Today is one of those days! I can't even think enough to tweet on Twitter. It's the tell tale signs of the busiest time for canning. The night before I was up late canning the third hamper of tomatoes this season. In return I have 7 L, 5 - 500 ml and 1 - 250 ml jar of gorgeous fire roasted Italian pasta sauce with mushrooms. Then I was up early yesterday to get things ready for a dinner party we were hosting. I've managed to get a good part of the cleanup done this morning from last night's party just by puttering here and there for a few minutes at a time. The dishwasher just finished running so will be ready to empty shortly. I still have to label the jars of sauce that are still on the counter then they can be moved to the pantry. Home canned foods should sit undisturbed for 24 hours once out of the canner to avoid and detect any sealing problems. I have a small amount of hand washing to do then once that is all put away I can do a final wipe down through the kitchen and it will be ready for the kids and grandbaby when they get here for dinner. They are staying with us for a couple of days so that should be quite enjoyable.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
