The end of a journey

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world." - Jack Layton, July 18th, 1950 - August 22nd, 2011

While my journey continues on, Jack Layton's has ended, he may have gone on to another adventure, I guess it depends on what you believe.  If you don't live in Canada you might not know who Jack Layton was.  He was the leader of our Parliamentary Opposition party, the NDP.  While I did  not necessarily agree with his views, I did admire him for his passion.  He had deep beliefs and fought for them and what he felt was right for Canadians.  The above quote came from  his goodbye letter to all Canadians that he wrote 2 days before his death.  Of course his story is all over the news and to discover that when he knew his time was coming soon he took the time to make sure that the NDP would know where to go from here and on top of it all take a few minutes to write to all Canadians a 'fond farewell' of sorts......

I love his quote.  It truly is thoughtful and true.  If we could all remember to be 'loving, hopeful and optimistic' even during our darkest hour it would brighten the world even if only a little.   

Goodbye Jack and Thank you for all you have done for this country.  We need a great and strong opposition to keep us on the right path and you are the one who gave it to us.  I hope that your legacy will carry on in your predecessor.  Our thoughts and prayers are with your family as they grieve the loss of someone so loved.  

My journey has been interesting of late to say the least.  July was an extremely hectic time at work, full of overtime and stress.  The line I work on is not running as well as it should and so of course makes our jobs so much more difficult, not only to keep the line running and put cases out the door, but also to complete our other tasks AND to make improvements that will help the line run better.  Right now our time is spent 'firefighting' and trying to get through the day.  The last week leading up to my vacation, I was feeling very burned out and had a very very difficult time trying to keep from crashing.

Thankfully I made it to my vacation and had a fantastic time!  While plans changed, changed and changed again at seemingly the last minute, everything worked out alright.  We spent the first week at home 'chillaxin' as I like to call it.  I got some much needed sleep, some housework caught up and started packing for our trip.  We spent 2 days and a night in Quebec at a Zoo/Waterpark.  It was fantastic.  The first day was crazy busy and hot but we still managed to have some fun.  The second day was amazing.  The park was much quieter, it was slightly overcast at times, and we were able to go through the whole park and see all the animals much better than the day before.  We also spent a few hours at the water park just enjoying the sun and the water.  I'm not much of a water person, but I did truly enjoy it  :)  I drove the kids crazy wanting to take their picture on every animal statue their was.  We had a lot of laughs and it was nice being just us.  We came home for a day and then it was off to my In Laws for a couple of days.  We had a wedding to go to (the one I posted about earlier) Then it was time for me to leave my hubby and kids with my in-laws and come back home to an empty house to work 4 LONG night shifts.  I honestly didn't think I would make it through, but I did.  The 3rd night was really tough, but the 4th was alright.  I think a lot of that had to do with it being the last and once it was over I was going back to the in-laws to be with my family again.  I got there Friday morning, had a nap and then went over to the park where the kids were attending daycamp and were having their closing Talent Show celebration.   We were a bit late and had missed my nephew singing, but thankfully they had him sing again at the end (He sang O Canada, so they opened with him and decided to close with him too!)  My daughter sang a song with a new friend and my son did 'Kinetic Art' with another boy.  They setup a circle of blocks standing on their end and then knocked them over.  I was so happy to see them and know they had a good time that week.  The Saturday was a birthday party for my Dad and Brother (Dad turns 60 Sept 6th and my brother 31 on Sept 5)  Their neighbour had us over for a nice little lunch and visit to celebrate early.  It was a nice day.  Yesterday and today were relaxing and getting the yard work done as I go back to work tomorrow for a couple of days.  2 weeks from today is back to school already!  Back to school shopping next week.

I have no idea where my weight/measurements are at.  I am almost positive that I have gained some but I don't think it is too horrible.  I will have to check in on that soon I guess. Right now I am content with still fitting into my jeans lol!

Well that is it for today, I have dinner to get ready and some relaxing to do before bed.  Summer is too short, but on the plus side we have a beautiful Fall season coming and even after that the winter is beautiful too.  I love the Christmas season, but have a hard time getting through Jan and February.  Oh well 2 months out of 12 isn't bad ;)

Till next time...

Today is August 16th....

Wow time flies!  I started my vacation on July 30th and tonight I go back to work.  I can hardly believe the time has gone by already.  I had a wonderful time off.  The August long weekend we went camping with our best friends.  We all had a great time.  The park was so clean and the sites were big.  The beach was wonderful as the kids could walk out forever without it getting deep.  The playground was a 'participaction' park so all the equipment doubled as fitness equipment too.

We then came home for a few days and had our beautiful God daughter stay with us for the first time in years.  It is so nice to have them living close by again!  We had a good week with her too.

That Friday (Aug 6th) we left for my family reunion.  Another fun weekend!  My kids are both old enough now that I can let them run free in the park without having to worry about them.  Plus the reunion books half of the campsite so everyone watches out for everyone's kids.  Friday night was setup and a corn roast, but my monkeys are always too tired to stay up for the corn roast.  Saturday is visiting, the kids games, horseshoe tournament and then the BIG supper.  This year was fish and deep fried turkey!  Yummy!  We also went to my husband's family get together for a few hours that afternoon.  Neither of us play horseshoes so it was good timing :)   Sunday is the pancake breakfast and taking everything down and packing up and the toonie tosses for both adults and kids.  Then the meeting for next year's reunion.  It ended up raining during packup and breakfast so we decided to head on home.  It was a great time.

The next week we ended up staying at my in-laws and helping get ready for my husband's other side of the family get together.  His cousin was visiting from BC with her son who had just turned 1 (and we hadn't met yet)  She also surprised everyone with the news she was pregnant again!

Finally we returned home the Saturday night.  It sure is nice to be home again.  I spent all day yesterday doing absolutely nothing. Well except for digital scrapbooking.  I am almost finished to last Christmas lol so not too far behind!  Today I went back to the gym.  Oh how good that felt!  I also checked my weight and I haven't lost, but haven't gained either!!  Which is a miracle with the fact that I only went to the gym2-3 times in the 2 weeks and didn't bother keeping my eating in check a whole lot either :P  I plan to start the Curves eating plan next month to give me a boost.  Another nice surprise I had today was that while I knew that last month I had lost 3.5 pounds and a few inches I hadn't realized just how many inches.........drum roll please.......9.75 inches!!!!   Holy Moly!!!  It will be interesting to see how that works out this month since I haven't been doing much, but as long as I don't gain pounds or inches I will be happy!!

Well I guess I had better start getting ready for work.  While I knew this day was coming I was still hoping to become independently wealthy!! LOL  Oh well, I do like my job, I just don't like going to it :P

Cheers!

Vacation Time

I love vacation time.  But then again who doesn't!!  I opted to take March Break off with my hubby and the kids.  This chews up a lot of my vacation hours but it is worth it!  The first half of my time off we spent visiting my best friend Amy.  She bought a new house in November and I hadn't been able to make a trip up to see it until now.  (It is a 4hr drive)  Her new home is beautiful.  It needs a lot of work, but she and her husband are both handy so the potential is there.  We spent 4 days.  The first day was just a relax, house tour and setup loggings day.  The next day went for a nice walk through part of the city and enjoyed watching our kids playing in the backyard.  The weather was gorgeous.  We also made a trip to Ikea, which is always a lot of fun even though I didn't do any shopping this time.  I did get a lot of ideas though  :)  Our last full day was spent at the local Sugar bush.  Maple syrup is wonderful but Maple Syrup Lollipops are to die for!  The last day was a morning of playing in the yard and helping Amy setup a new computer station, then it was time to get on the road.

I didn't get as much accomplished today as I would have liked, but I'm not obsessing that I didn't.  I did get a plan sketched out (with measurements) for my basement reno project and sent the plans to my friend Dan who is going to help me make it happen.  We also went out as a family and did our huge grocery shop and then came home to relax together.

Tomorrow I plan to get back to the gym and start cleaning/packing up my basement.  The best thing about having the plans on paper is knowing what section to tackle first!  I knew I wanted to build in a bedroom, but didn't know where it was going to go.  Now that that is realized I have to get that area cleared out first.

So for today and the last little while, my mood has been good.  Everyday is a new day, full of new choices and battles.  I am choosing to be happy and enjoy my vacation!!