Pension Plans and Freeloaders

There has been a lot of talk over the years with respect to underfunded pension plans and the current federal and provincial governments have decided to take the axe to pensions in a number of different ways.  The federal government has implemented delayed pensions for those born after 1958 (I think that’s the date).  The Alberta government, among other things, is also delaying pensions.  The hypocrisy of these moves are simply beyond the pale.  While hard working individuals are forced to work longer, with less, the ones who govern are able to take their pensions immediately on leaving office.  Furthermore they have access to more than one pension as they end up in other public payroll offices.

Rather than point fingers I attach links to several recent articles below.  The audacity of what goes on in government is incredible but more appalling is how these characters continue to stamp out any hope for the middle and lower income people all the while finger pointing and accusing us of feeling “entitled”.  I don’t understand why more people don’t get upset by all the downright pilfering of our tax dollars by these scoundrels.

An example that continues to baffle me is how our premier’s assistant can expense weekly hotel bills at the most expensive hotel in Edmonton on that taxpayers’ account.  Other elected MLAs stay in hotels for less than half.  But in the first place, why would someone who is essentially an employee be staying in a hotel on a weekly basis on taxpayer dollars?  This individual apparently lives in Calgary but is now working for the premier in Edmonton.  So why isn’t this person relocated like they would be in private business?  And if, for whatever obscure reason, it actually is reasonable to house this person up in a hotel – why on earth would it have to be the most expensive hotel in Edmonton?  I am sorry Alison Redford but you absolutely are wrong, wrong, wrong.  Horrendous enough that you would take a trip to South Africa for $45,000 and not apologize; now you ignore common sense cost cutting and again make new apology?  You are on a very slippery slope and I do not give the Conservative government a chance in the next election.  The arrogance of this government is sticking in everyone’s throats, including hard core conservatives. 

I for one will not be sorry to see them go, even if it means having an ultra conservative replacement in the Wildrose party.  I am seriously FED UP.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/05/many-mps-set-to-receive-lucrative-pensions-topping-100000-a-year-for-life/

http://www.discoveryfinance.com/how-much-pensions-do-unelected-members-of-parliament-receive-annually.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oblivion or Irony?

Conversation of the day went something like this:

First girl:  She is always talking back.

Second girl:  How long has she been there?

First girl:  Only a few months.  I think it is so disrespectful.  It's like she can't stop herself, always talking about, always so rude.

Second girl proceeds to talk about another colleague, how rude she is, only thinking about herself.

First girl:  That is so disrespectful.

Definition of irony, both girls were under 30, sitting down on the train and while they were busily talking about disrespect 4 senior ladies were desperately grasping at the straps 6 inches too high above their heads, all within eye level of these 2 highly principled girls.

Yes, I am sure they know all about respect (as it impacts there princess-like selves).

Funny Parents

It has really been a delight and a revelation to live with my mother over these last 2 years.  Growing up my father was such a large personality that my mother really lived in his shadow to the point that she almost disappeared.  At the same time all of us children relied on Mom for everything and if she wasn’t home when we got home it was terribly traumatic.  If we needed something done, if we wanted something found, it was to Mom we would go.   

But at the dinner table it was Father who had centre stage and we would hang on his every word as high entertainment.  While it isn’t a surprise to see my mother’s sense of humour, it is surprising to find her laughing at herself over all her silly mistakes and quirks which are definitely developing rapidly in her old age.  Reflecting again about yesterday and her crazy mistake at identifying an apple core as a candle I chuckle.  Back in the day I am not really sure she would have laughed although I do remember her taking it with good humour when we all laughed at her for bundling up, putting on skates for the first time and then skating on an ice patch the size of a quarter, all the time holding a broom to keep her balance.  After all the time it took her to get dressed and out the door, she was on the ice a matter of 12 seconds.  We laughed for days at that one.

Reflecting on my parents and the way I was raised truly makes me appreciate my childhood.  I have so many good memories of my parents that I feel truly blessed.  Even the spankings have their humorous side after Mom admitted she would stand at the closed door after a spanking and listen to my sister and I giggle as we asked “did it hurt”?  The truth is my mother wouldn’t hurt a fly much less her children.

I hope you had a similar childhood that can make you smile.

Curiousity of Mothers

I well remember at four years old my mother warning me not to put my hand in the roller of the ringer washing machine, even then an antique of sorts.  No sooner had she left the room than the fascination of those rollers began calling my name.  I remember reaching my hand up tentatively and whoosh, I don’t remember the terror or the screaming but I am sure I must have felt and done both.  My hand was immediately stuck and being pulled upwards in the roller.  The machine did not have an automatic release (which they later had) so my hand just kept going while I tried to pull out of it.  To this day I have the scars on my right hand and a crooked index finger.

Zip forward some 50 years or so and I find myself compelled to write little notes to my mother.

“Mom, don’t touch the instrument on the counter, it is sharp.”

Yes, today my mother cut her finger on a contraption that she did not recognize.  It happened to be an apple corer which I had used to cut up an apple for my lunch.  I left it on the counter with the core still sticking up.  My poor mother’s cataract must really be severe (and she is still resisting having it looked after) because she thought she was looking at a peculiar candle holder! 

If this keeps up I am going to have to hide all sharp objects!  At least she hasn’t really hurt herself yet so right now there’s a little fun in discovering what mischief she gets into while I am at work.  I hope the charm doesn’t escalate into deeper anxiety.  If so, I have her instructions to put her out of her misery.  As if I could ever do that!

Language and Technology

Understanding the quirks of foreign languages is a true art as I am discovering as I study the Spanish language.  It is not just a matter of obtaining a vocabulary but of understanding how the verbs change and how extremely important it is to enunciate all the vowels in a word since it can completely alter the meaning of the word.  While Spanish is supposed to be an easy language to learn it still takes a lot of concentrated effort to retain the vocabulary and all of the rules of grammar which I found out simply by trying to study as the house was invaded by family.

I am actually enjoying learning this new language despite all the challenges of missing time and not studying nearly as much as I ought to be.  I am delighted every time I recognize a Latin word and I can travel down the language route to discover other language roots.  Despite not learning the spoken language as quickly as I would like I am still discovering so many other things through the study.  For instance how words like Jugo are being doubled up with a company brand name like Jugo Juice (basically saying juice juice).  In Denmark formal nouns have been eliminated to a large extent but Spanish still retains the formal and informal just as French.

As a language is revealed the people are also revealed, and that is a very fun experience.  I listen to the CD we received and still find it hard to recognize the words if I am not following along with the book and then even though I recognize the words I forget the meaning.  Oh yes, it’s going to take a while to master the language but meanwhile I am learning a lot simply about language in general.

Seguing into something else by way of language, how can a government analyse an individual through a SIM card?  How can they say that a person is guilty of treason by tracking what that person has researched on line?  If I were Jessica Fletcher of yore and searching for various ways to kill a person, or make a bomb (yes I dare to use the word on a blog) how could they discern however many hits that might be to mean that Jessica was a terrorist?  And then, willy nilly, make a drone hit?  This is what I am understanding may be happening in America today. How can a supposedly righteous democratic nation kill someone because a SIM card has identified that individual as a threat to America?  How many international laws does this action break?   Who made America the decider of what is right for them and what the rules are for everybody else?

Didn’t the founding fathers advocate the Freedom of Speech?  Didn’t they advocate trial by jury?  Aren’t you innocent until proven guilty?  Has technology taken over and usurped the power of speech?  In other words, has the power of language disappeared?

Are we on the verge of The Terminator’s world?

Yes and No - Feel the Power

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about how my generation was raised.  In today’s world I supposed it would be called “tough love” but I think in the 1960’s (and before) it was called Upbringing.  I suspect that I was a particularly easy child to raise as the idea of rebellion never crossed my mind.  Now it is just possible that I have selected memory here but as I recall, without even really thinking about it, I knew that my parents’ word was law so what was the point in arguing.  It was a Win-Lose situation, they would win and I would lose so why put effort into something like that? 

I have written about this before so I apologize for repeating myself but my parents had no trouble whatsoever in saying no to us and I don’t feel that I have been scarred by that word.  In fact I rather enjoy the power of it when I can say no and not feel guilty.  You should not feel guilty about saying no to things that you truly don’t want to do since this is this is Your Life and your precious time.  On the other hand it also feels great to say Yes to the things that you want to do so there is power in that word as well.  It’s all about knowing what you really want and using the right word in response to the question.

Whether one is raising a family or deciding on what to do with one’s time consider that you have only One Life to Live as you make your choices on how to dispose of your time.  As I wrote yesterday while there is nothing wrong with chilling out with a game or two, sleeping in a hammock (or bed), and otherwise “wasting your time” keep things in moderation in order not to miss out on the valuable things that truly make you happy and are not just mind numbing.  We all have something in us to make our lives richer whether it be in creativity, volunteering, mentoring, working out, socializing and so on.  Don’t sit through life, live it.

I have a dear colleague fighting with cancer right now and how she is living her life with grace and energy is a true inspiration on Living.  She is not sitting Life out and nor will I. 

Brain Candy

It’s not always easy to know what is good for a person.  I’m not talking about food or drink but rather about what a person does with their time.  A person can become addicted to the most unlikely of things such as books, television shows, games, card making and other amusements.  The question is whether these amusements are good for a person even when done in what might be considered excess. 

Elementary you think?  We are talking about “harmless” pastimes after all so is there too much of a good thing?  Counselors will tell you “all things in moderation” and other kindly worded things to make you stop what you are doing if it interferes with the rest of your life and upsets family members.

Okay, where am I going with this exactly?  Recently I have found myself playing solitaire on the computer.  Believe it or not despite owning this computer for 7 years I have never played an sort of a game on it before now and I am afraid that I have become slightly addicted to it.  I discovered it about a week ago and I have wasted hours on it.  Granted, I have been ill and unable to concentrate due to pain or at least that is the excuse I am giving myself and my mother.  But I am actually quite disturbed by the amount of time that has been sucked away from me by a silly game.  So where I am going with this is that I suddenly realize the fascination of the more complex games that people are actually playing. 

The difference, I hope, is that I recognized in a short period of time that I was wasting my time and becoming addicted to something extremely mind numbing.  I sincerely hope that I will be able to stop myself.  Yes, cold turkey.

Addiction is a frightful thing even when it is “harmless”.  Does this seem simple and obvious?  Perhaps, but I hope it also shocks you a little bit into looking at what you may be doing that is not all that good for you.  Maybe it’s just me, but spending several hours per day on a game is not exactly adult, productive or meaningful.

Or am I missing something more?

 

What's Right Anymore?

Do you ever feel as though the whole world has gone topsy turvey and you are the only person thinking the right way?  Countless times while I am driving I wonder if I am the only one left who knows how to drive correctly. 

Example, this morning as I drove to the grocery store going the speed limit of 110 km per hour on the inside (right) lane of a two lane highway  when I saw up ahead a patrol car’s lights flashing.  I moved over to the left lane, still driving 110 km per hour as we have been told that we only have to slow down to 60 if we are passing the stopped vehicles in the right lane (that is, giving the patrol car a one lane berth).  I moved back into the right lane, proceeded along the way still going the proper 110 km per hour.  As I approached a semi-trailer truck I moved into the left lane to pass (the truck was going less than 110 km); as I did so I noticed a vehicle behind me speeding up so I “passed the truck with authority”, but still the vehicle behind me was going so fast that it was soon up my rear and I had to move up to 119 km in order to pass the truck with any kind of speed.  I quickly moved back into the right hand lane, slowed down to 111 km and to my surprise there was the patrol car, zipping along at maybe 116 km and for the next 15 or so km he stayed in the left lane, cruising along.  At the last minute he zipped over to the right lane and proceeded to the off-ramp to High River.

Really?  There were no vehicles ahead of us in the right hand lane.  Why was he in the left lane the whole way, not to mention he was driving more than 110 km per hour and obviously not giving chase to anyone?  Was that any sort of example in good driving?  How on earth can anyone respect an officer who doesn’t follow the rules he is supposed to enforce?  This just happens to be the incident of the day; I see this sort of thing often enough since I’m on the road a minimum of 5 days a week.  Yes, I am talking about the officers not the other blokes who we all know got their license out of a cereal box!

Since I had a long talk with the traffic expert who will be speaking to us later this month whose advice was to always go the speed and not over I have been doing just that but examples like today make me wonder if I am completely out to lunch! 

Oh Valentine, Oh Valentine

I remember my first Valentine’s Day.  I was seven years old and my dad gave me a 50 cent piece to buy a bunch of candy to take to school.  I had no idea what Valentine’s Day was all about and neither did my parents!  Presumably we had some sort of Valentine’s celebration in kindergarten and Grade One but I don’t remember.  What I do remember was being new to the school and not getting any cards. 

            It’s a terrible thing to leave children out and in those days parents and teachers didn’t think very much about fairness.  Today it would be considered a sign of harassment, if one child didn’t get any cards.  Back then, that’s just the way it was.  I suppose that’s why I have never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day.  Today I find the advertising is really over the top, even the TV stations have hearts on their logos. 

            I do have some good memories of Valentine’s though.  I remember one year my father bought my mother a huge box of chocolates shaped like a heart and made up of pink satin ribbons and little pearls.  It was really a gorgeous box and when the candy was all gone my mother gave the box to me.  For years I used it for my jewelry box until I got an official one from my grandma.  Eventually I think I cut it up to make a hat for my Barbie doll.

            I’m sentimental about a lot of things but this is not one of the days I really get all mushy. 

New Rules and other Nonsense

The other day I was standing at the counter in the doctor’s office for the third time in as many weeks and for the second time the receptionist said I needed to be weighed and measured.  I told her I still remembered what I weighed and how high I was from the week before but she said she would have to do it again and this time she would write it down.  Naturally I was still 5 foot 6 inches but despite fasting for my blood work I was a frightful 3 pounds heavier than the previous week.  How was that even possible? 

Some of the rules now in place with the health care system is really ridiculous.  The ladies in the medical clinic that I go to have known me for 30 years and yet they have to ask for my health card every time I come in.  Now they have to weigh and measure you ever time you come in.  What do they think is going to happen between visit?  Am I going to morph into an alien, an out-of-towner, or what?  Is someone going to have plastic surgery and look like me and have a dubious doctor’s visit in my stead?  Sure I can understand for a first time visitor, but what is the purpose of identifying someone you actually know?  I’m living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, in fact they know a whole lot more about a person than is seemly, in my opinion.

And that’s another thing now that I’m on the subject.  After attending at the hospital the other day for my lab work I thought I would just slip into my bank to hand in some paperwork since I was in town.  There were two cashiers open and two customers at their counter so I was next in line.  The one customer was there with her son and was obviously trying to straighten out some mess he had made in his account.  Great, I knew that was going to be a while.  The other lady seemed to conducting ordinary business but minute after minute went by and I was leaning against a counter, favouring my aching leg and wondering what could possibly take 3 minutes at a bank counter?  Really, people, this should be a quick in-and-out procedure, 2 minutes tops.  Five minutes later, she signs the counter note and then she decides to have a personal chat with the teller.  Cue for me to turn around and forget it.  Limping out I wonder at the rudeness of people.  It’s one thing to chat while you are conducting your business but to hold up a teller (or cashier, or receptionist, or whoever is the service person) when there are other people in line . . . well, I just don’t understand it.  It’s true, I am not the most patient person in a lineup at the best of times, but when one is in agony simply standing then social chitchat needs to give way.

But then, when I’m about my business its all about me!

Sleepless

One of the luxuries of vacations, Friday nights and retirement is the lack of anxiety about sleeplessness because there is no need to wake up early if you cannot fall asleep right away.  At least, I assume it is a luxury since I rarely have trouble sleeping.  Tonight however it is a different story and I have been sitting up at the computer playing solitaire (a recent vice), puzzles and finally I have taken to writing in order to make myself tired enough to fall back asleep! 

I’ve often thought about wandering outside at night to view the stars once I retired and could actually stay up late.  Since I have never done this in my last 60 years I am dubious about whether I will actually ever get around to it.  Tonight is not the night for experimenting as we are still in a deep freeze so I will have to channel my romancing into a story all the while trying to type softly in order to not wake up Mother.

As I lay in bed wondering whether I should get up or not I thought about Downton Abbey and wondered, in such a huge castle of a house, would the family wander out into the “yard” for a midnight stroll?  I would think it would be very scary to wander around the halls, never mind finding your way into the grounds, at which point who knows what they would meet out there?  Clanging chains and moaning ancestors trying to get back into the castle, poachers, or just ordinary wayfarers of the night?  Then I looked at the clock.  Only 10 o’clock, that’s what comes of aching pains and going to bed at 6.  I turned on the night light and found Thumper sprawled across the foot of the bed sound asleep.  I should have been resentful of his peace but I smiled instead.

And there was Mother sitting quietly in the kitchen eating her “midnight snack” of rye bread and brown sugar!  Who knew what went on in the house in the still of the night?

           

Farewell Shirley Temple

Saying goodbye to Shirley Temple is like saying goodbye to childhood.  That is probably not how she would like to be remembered but one cannot avoid the fact that Shirley Temple was the biggest child star ever.  I remember seeing my first Shirley Temple movie at the age of 7, I believe it was “Captain January”, and wanting to be just like her, tap dancing and all.  Her movies were always light hearted, full of exploits and hardships but you were always sure of a happy ending.

There are any number of things to admire about this woman, her intelligence, her activism and her re-invention of herself but one of the things I truly admire is that she carried her celebrity with grace.  Despite being a pampered star and no doubt being a little wild within her circle no scandal ever attached to her and she grew up to be a responsible, respected citizen.  I remember when she spoke out about her breast cancer back in the early ‘70s and made it a platform to help others with breast cancer awareness.  She went on to a diplomatic career that earned the respect of career diplomats and dignitaries.  At all times she won friends and admiration for her grace and dignity.

Just like in her movies, Shirley Temple Black retained her dignity throughout her life.  Now that is a Class Act.

I actually have this autographed picture, slightly tattered!

Nothing but the Truth

“What is truth”, asked Pontius Pilate.

In one sense the world is simple and transparent.  When one is out in nature, enjoying the sight and sounds of the natural world everything can seem wonderful, simple and true.  Then when we go into our work a day world we can also find comfort and simplicity in the known actions of daily routine.  When we look at a newspaper, pick up a book, listen to the radio or television, we can dull our minds into believing all is as it appears at first sight.

So when I began watching Moyers & Co. yesterday I was expecting something predictable, I would be incensed but on the same page with the guest.  But that was not the case at all and I was startled.  The topic was the Keystone Pipeline and the guest was Bill McKibben who I have listened to before.  He seems like a straightforward, honest type of guy but I became somewhat doubting as I listened.  He said Nebraska was the most fertile farm land in the world.  Nebraska?  Okay, I am not a farmer but somehow that did not sound correct to me.  Later he said something that sort of sailed by but I went “whoa, what was that”?  What he said was that only 3% of oil sands had as yet been exploited and there was still time to stop it.  Excuse me, but what was that again?  The reason he doesn’t want the pipeline to be made is not because of what disturbance it will have running along American land but because he wants to stop the growth of oil sands in Canada?  Nothing was said or expanded upon there but I had heard it and was disturbed by it.

Why?  I like transparency; I like advocates to say the whole story and not to have hidden agendas.  I also think that Americans have no business trying to stop Canadian industry.  I think Canada should take care of its own business, problems, concerns, whatever you want to call it.  When it comes to fossil fuels and alternatives I think that we are approaching a complex issue.  Living in Alberta and working in the oil and gas industry could make my opinion biased, I’m human after all, however common sense ought to tell anyone that you cannot simply shutdown a whole industry that employs more than 100,000 people!  Indeed, with spinoff jobs it is probably closer to 500,000 and perhaps even more than that.  A more rational way to stop addiction of fossil fuel is to take a balanced approach, with incentives for companies and individuals to use alternatives.  Unfortunately the appetite of industry to make a killing rather than a living constantly and one would assume, inevitably, destroys that alternative.  What do I mean?  As in other industries, the energy industry wants only a chosen few to reap the big rewards.  What incentive is there for me as a country dweller to set up an expensive windmill or solar panel system to harness energy when I have no financial incentive to have it go into the grid with a decent payback?  How can ordinary citizens be weaned off their polluting vehicles when there is little or no alternative transportation provided for them?

What is truth?  It’s simple really.  Cupidity.

Olympic Fever and so much more

I am not a sports fan.  There I have admitted it.  I will not pretend that I dislike being an armchair athlete while I go out there and sweat myself silly doing sports.  No, I am simply not sports minded period.  Having declared my ignorance of all things sports I will then go on to say that I do follow the Olympic medal count.  I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I discovered the headline that Canada already had a medal, albeit bronze.  Hurrah for Canada.

So here’s what I don’t understand.  How is it possible that a country ostensibly as poor as Russia can go into 51 BILLION DOLLARS in debt for the Olympics?  This is an unfathomable amount of money, an amount that could run a not-so-small country!  I have never understood why sports people such as hockey players get the amounts of money that they get (and at the same time, ditto actors).  Why is it that sports and entertainment seem to be able to support millions of dollars in payments to these people and yet we balk at paying a brain surgeon $100,000 for a life saving operation? 

It’s true that a surgery does not generate income while the entertainment or sports industry does bring in money but to the extent that these people should make so much money out of all proportion to other incomes?  It seems to me that having such disparity in income is part of the problem with why these rich people live in a world of such unreality and nonsense that it is no surprise at all that someone like Phillip Seymour Hoffman would shoot himself to death with heroin.  Do I feel sorry for him?  No.  Do I understand how someone gets into drugs?  No.  These people are surrounded by this sort of thing every day once they enter that world and after all these decades of “awareness” they still “fall into the trap”.  Give me a break.  Give your head a shake and for crying out loud, don’t do a commercial begging for money for this cause or that one because I do not take you seriously.

Neil Young, Robert Redford, Robert Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey.  I do not care who you are and I do not want to hear what you have to say on any topic that is not your specialty.  Whether it’s oil sands, global warming, leprosy, what have you, I do not believe you have your facts straight or your feet on the ground.  The people I want to tell me what’s what are the people whose profession it is to know and understand these things. 

So yes, we will get some medals at Sochi but I am not going to buy Nike runners because some Olympian tells me how great they are. 

Where are the Drawers?

Now there is always the optimism that February is a short month and then we just have to defeat March and spring will be here.  A total myth in Southern Alberta, where winter can pounce on one at any time, in the form of snow, wind and cold weather.

However that may be starting out with a sense of humour is very handy.  Last year I wrote about the mysteries of disappearing laundry and this year I have a tale to tell about disappearing underwear.

I am sure that my family is not unique in having underwear stories although generally folk do not tell tales in public about their underwear.  In my family we have all the peculiarities of having no boundaries when it comes to discuss personal matters, very personal matters.  For the squeamish you may stop reading here and for those with a sense of humour, please read on.

Before embarrassing my family I will reveal all about my own infamous underwear story.  It goes like this, my grandmother for some odd reason decided that my sister and I should have bestowed on us as a Christmas present blue satin bloomers.  These were truly blooming underpants that blossomed out at the waist and then tied around each leg with more elastic (thank God).  Needless to say my sister and I absolutely resisted wearing these preposterous bloomers until one sad afternoon I was forced into wearing them to a Girl Guide evening.  They were very uncomfortable (I think perhaps at this point they might have been a year old, never worn).  Towards the end of the evening we went into Horseshoe Formation for our sing song and as we had guests that evening we also had the lights in the auditorium dimmed.  Just as we were about to sing, snap, my waist elastic popped off and I could feel my satin pants falling down.  Mercifully the leg elastics were intact but now it appeared as though my slip was hanging about 6 inches below my skirt.  What was a girl to do?

This girl, completely flustered, shuffled into the washroom only to discover that she was so distraught she had mistaken the washrooms and was confronted by her first urinal!  Slinking out and hoping no one had seen my I went into the girls’ and there tried to pull the offending bloomers up over my skirt waist, buckle my belt super tight and went back into the auditorium as nonchalantly as I could.

Ah, that should be the end of the evening, but oh no, more was in store for me.  I managed to survive the adios to the parents and closing up.  I was safely on my way home when suddenly I heard the voices of the boy scouts coming home, directly behind me.  Now let it be understood that some of the boys and I had had our moments and being all alone in the pitch dark I panicked.  I started to run down the path forgetting that the construction men had been working on some new homes and suddenly I dropped into a hole, at the same time dropping my underwear again.  The situation was dire, there I was sitting bare-assed in the frozen earth, blind as a bat, waiting for the boys to pass me by and hoping they wouldn’t hear my strangled breath.

God was merciful, off they went never knowing how close they had come to utterly annihilating my dignity.  I gathered myself up, stormed home and told Mom I was never, ever going to wear those disgusting bloomers again!

One Month In To 2014

It’s hard to believe that one month has already gone of this noble year.  In my own little life a lot has transpired. 

·         I’ve taken a fall down a ladder that has left me in a sad state of decay.

·         I’ve begun the transformation of a powder room into a “jewel box”

·         I’ve recommenced Spanish lessons

·         I’ve restarted my book club

·         I’ve started up the Lunch and Learns for Season 3 at work

And that’s just at the top of the list.  Small in world news but quite a heavy schedule for the first month – and this is only the part time work!  I’ve also started a new writing project, but more on that later!

Our first Lunch & Learn of the year talked about how to set goals, and to reset goals, and how to not be discouraged when goals or resolutions are not met.  We frequently make new year resolutions that peter out in a couple of weeks and it’s your job to reset your mental engine to overcome that feeling of depression and defeat.  It’s like the old adage when a child falls off the pony, you have to get back in the saddle.  However, I am not 100% convinced you are going to get a shaken child back on the pony.  For one thing, you are going to have to stop the wailing and screaming and you are going to have to assure yourself that the child hasn’t any broken limbs.  Rather hard to do when she’s kicking and screaming fit to kill.

Not that you, an adult, would feel like that when you stop going to the gym, now would you?  Inside, maybe just a little?  Hmmm.  Well, take a deep breath and remember why you set the goal in the first place.  Often it is not only about you and your well being, it’s also about caring for your family.  Re-evaluating the goal, the consequences of failing, the joys of success that may help you get back in the saddle.

At this point, I will be happy if my knee finally heals!  Now on to February!