Me

Yes, this is all about me!

Hah, so much of my day to day is not about me, and hasn't been for the past 8 years since I became a mama. Those feelings of being detached from yourself magnified that much more when Fynn was born. The days are a blur.

I complain bitterly to Vic when he suggests we go running. He drags me out two days a week. I really don't like running, especially when the weather is this warm. My legs feel heavy. I feel sluggish.

But, and there is always a but. It makes me feel so good. Like medicated good.

This picture was taken of me today after our run. I left work an hour early so we could go running. After it was over I had a shower and then got dressed to go pick up the kids and start our evening with them. That just finished running, good

shower feeling should be bottled. I feel fit, thin, happy, strong and my brain is settled. No cortisol zooming through my body doing god knows what sort of damage to my cells.

It feels so good. When days are so much about other people and taking care of them, be it at work or at home, running is the best way to get some sense of calm.

Mid Year Goal Check In

I can't believe 2012 is half over.

Here is my mid year check in on some goals I set for myself back in late December.


Family
1. Read to Fynn daily. I can't say I am doing this daily, but I would say every second or third night right now.
2. Have a family walk or bike ride (when weather is warmer) once a week. We have been pretty good with this. Now that Fynn is really getting around well on his bike, we often take the kids down to the waterfront and let them take off.
3. Do more art with Sophie. Have not done great with this one. Although I do let her use my camera quite a bit. Does that count?
4. Volunteer once before the end of the school year at Sophie’s school. I did manage to get in once and volunteer and I did make sure I saw all of her special events (e.g. circus show). Work was crazy this past spring and it made going to her school tough.
5. Set weekly date nights with Vic. Vic and I have not done well with this at all. We need to get a sitter for this weekend, so we can see a movie or something.

Health
1. Exercise everyday. Yes, doing this. I need to exercise everyday to stay happy.
2. Find a trainer so I can add basic weight-training and strength exercises weekly. Have not done this.
3. Drink at least two glasses of water a day. I know that is really low, but better than what I am doing now. I would say this is a challenge for me, but something I strive for.
4. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends. Generally doing okay with this.
5. Only 1-2 lattes per week (I am allowed a Tim’s each workday however). We have a Starbucks in Salmon Arm now -- this has been tough. Can't say I have been successful.

Work
I have some work goals that I am working on formulating still, so I won’t post here.

Create/Art/Photography
1. Complete one scrapbook layout a month. Yes! Doing fine with this. I did a layout of Fynn's soccer sessions last weekend. It feels so good to be scrapbooking again.
2. Learn how to take some photos with my new micro lens . Enrol in a Shutter Sisters class. Haven't done this yet.

Travel
1. Travel.
2. A trip for Vic and I to Amsterdam. We didn't go to Amsterdam, but we did go to Ottawa and we have a two day trip to Vancouver planned in August to see the new Matisse exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
3. A fun family trip with my extended family to Disneyland in the fall. Yes, doing this!
4. A spring break trip to Vancouver Island. We didn't do this because we all got sick, but we are off to VI for 1 week of summer holidays later in July. Can't wait, plus my sister and her son will be joining us for some fun.
5. A trip to Barkerville in the summer with our friends Bryan and Patti. Nope, isn't happening this year.

Reading
1. Read a book every two weeks. Yes, my book club really helps with this goal, plus I have just been reading like crazy lately. So many books, so little time.

Learning
1. Take one class non work related locally. Vic and I are taking our MOMA online art history course. Love it.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Continue to go out for breakfast on Fridays with Vic, Bryan and Patti. Yes to this one.
2. Make a coffee date with Kim (1 per quarter). No but did catch up with her at a dinner event recently
3. Leave comments on blogs I read once a week. Yes, doing this.

Home
1. Work on (work in progress) making the front study/piano/sitting room homier. Art work, a carpet/rug. Yes, we have a new piece of Ikea Picasso art that is going above the piano soon.
2. Locate and purchase a carpet/rug for our bedroom. Yes.
3. Art for kids play area. Not yet.

Friday update

We are the proud owners of a new camera. My Nikon D70 which I have had since Sophie was about 1 year old finally bit the dust last week. Vic surprised me with a new camera for our 22nd wedding anniversary last weekend. It is a D90. I love it!

Sophie is enjoying the lighter schedule of school as we are in the home stretch now. She has swimming lessons (Level 5) two days per week. This level is more challenging (naturally) then what she was required to do last year, so it is pushing her a bit. I am proud of her for giving it her best.

Fynn has one more day of soccer and then he is wrapped up for the year, unless the season is extended by one more week due to a cancellation that occured when the field was rained out due to heavy rain we have been having.

The kids are really into their bikes right now. We are taking them out fairly regularly at night for either a ride around the neighbourhood or down to the waterfront.

And finally, Vic and I are taking an on-line course offered through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). It was one of my 2012 Priority Goals. We love the course -- very interesting and the lecture speaker is engaging.

Update on Goals

For 2012, I set some personal goals. Here is an update on where I am at with them so far:

Family
1. Read to Fynn daily. We don't read daily, but I would say every second night we do some reading together. He is also the kind of kid who will pick up a book and look at the pictures himself, so he is showing great interest in books.
2. Have a family walk or bike ride (when weather is warmer) once a week. I would say we are doing a good job with this. With Fynn able to ride his bike now on his own, this is much more doable. We take the kids down to the waterfront and let them go.
3. Do more art with Sophie. I haven't been too successful with this.
4. Volunteer once before the end of the school year at Sophie’s school. I did one activity earlier this year where I brought my friend Patti in to speak to the kids about her trip to China. I would love to do a field trip with Sophie's class but so far it hasn't happened yet.
5. Set weekly date nights with Vic. Vic and I manage this so-so. We did go to the LobsterFest this past Saturday, so that does count as a "date." I would love for us to take in more movies together. We both enjoy that.

Health
1. Exercise everyday. Yes, I would say I am 99% successful with this. Doing a fair bit of running right now.
2. Find a trainer so I can add basic weight-training and strength exercises weekly. This has not happened - not sure if it will. I do some strength training during my group fitness classes on Mondays.
3. Drink at least two glasses of water a day. I try to rememeber this, but it is a struggle.
4. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends. Yes!
5. Only 1-2 lattes per week (I am allowed a Tim’s each workday however). This has become a bit more of a challenge for me lately, since Salmon Arm just got its first Starbucks!

Work
I have some work goals that I am working on formulating still, so I won’t post here.

Create/Art/Photography
1. Complete one scrapbook layout a month. While I can't say I have done 1 per month, I do have one in the planning stages that I want to complete for Sophie's ballet work.
2. Learn how to take some photos with my new micro lens . Enrol in a Shutter Sisters class. Have not done this, but have taken some shots with the micro/macro.

Travel
1. Travel has become an important area of focus for Vic and I over the past few years. We are now officially “middle aged” and we are much more aware that we need to make opportunities for travel to happen rather than putting them off.
2. A trip for Vic and I to Amsterdam. While we did not go to Amsterdam, we did take a trip to Ottawa in May!
3. A fun family trip with my extended family to Disneyland in the fall. Yes, we have the airline flights booked for this.
4. A spring break trip to Vancouver Island. We did not do this because we were sick, but we did got to Vancouver.
5. A trip to Barkerville in the summer with our friends Bryan and Patti. The kids will love it. We can't see this happening. Fynn is just too young to take on such a long car ride.

Reading
1. Read a book every two weeks. Continue to request / order books from the library to ensure I am reading what I want and not leaving my selections to chance. Definitely doing this. I joined a book club so it has made this completely doable and very fun!

Learning
1. Take one class non work related locally. Don’t know what about yet. Nothing to report here.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Continue to go out for breakfast on Fridays with Vic, Bryan and Patti. Yes!
2. Make a coffee date with Kim (1 per quarter). This hasn't really happened.
3. Leave comments on blogs I read once a week. I try to do this when I can.

Home
1. Work on (work in progress) making the front study/piano/sitting room homier. Art work, a carpet/rug. We did hang a great piece of photographic art in our study / piano room. It is feeling much homier.
2. Locate and purchase a carpet/rug for our bedroom. Yes, a new chocolate brown rug was purchased a couple of months ago.
3. Art for kids play area. Nothing to report in this area.


That is it for now. I really like keeping track of progress towards goals and priorities. It is great to see how far I have come this year and where I still need to do some work.

Following Through

Last night I set up the little cards for the kids to mark their "positive behavior" achievements.

Here is a photo of them stamping their entries for today. I decided to pull out a couple of stamps instead of stickers because the stamps fit in the squares better than a sticker. Fynn got a little carried away and stamped more than one box for tonight, but he had the general idea.

Sophie was very focused tonight. She had her French tutoring from 5:15pm - 6:15pm followed by her dinner. She then put on her ballet music and did about half an hour of her practice for her ballet exam and a few minutes of piano on top of that. She is actually quite goal and reward oriented.

For my own annual goals here is a 1 month update:

Family
1. Read to Fynn daily. Update: this has been sporadic. 3-4 times per week, usually a few pages from his Richard Scarry book.
2. Have a family walk or bike ride (when weather is warmer) once a week. Update: too cold for this now, however, we went skiing 5 times with the kids.
3. Do more art with Sophie. Update: this goal helped inform Sophie's birthday party. We are having Michelle Atkins do an art class for the 5 girls.
4. Volunteer once before the end of the school year at Sophie’s school. Update: not yet.
5. Set weekly date nights with Vic. Update: we did manage to see two movies and we really enjoyed it. We are trying to see one this Sunday but need to get to work on the sitter.

Health
1. Exercise everyday. Update: I missed exercising two days this month (1 due to a shin injury and 1 day the roads were so icy it wasn't safe to walk).
2. Find a trainer so I can add basic weight-training and strength exercises weekly. Update: nothing yet
3. Drink at least two glasses of water a day. Update: very close to hitting this goal.
4. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekend. Update: I go to bed before 11:30pm most nights (except for the weekend) so this is a slight improvement.
5. Only 1-2 lattes per week (I am allowed a Tim’s each workday however). Update: I don't have daily lattes anymore. Likely 3 a week however right now. Some improvement here.

Create/Art/Photography
1. Complete one scrapbook layout a month. Update: I did one layout for Fynn, so I met that goal.
2. Learn how to take some photos with my new micro lens . Enrol in a Shutter Sisters class. Update: not a lot of movement / progress on this one.

Travel
1. Travel has become an important area of focus for Vic and I over the past few years. We are now officially “middle aged” and we are much more aware that we need to make opportunities for travel to happen rather than putting them off.
2. A trip for Vic and I to Amsterdam. We have started researching. Update: I don't think this is in the cards this year. I am disappointed about this. We (I) would like to go somewhere in May for Vic's birthday. I think it is important to recharge and get away as a couple and see some new sights. I am working on this.
3. A fun family trip with my extended family to Disneyland in the fall. Update: still likely doing this.
4. A spring break trip to Vancouver Island. Update: this is doable and will be happening unless something crazy happens to change these plans.
5. A trip to Barkerville in the summer. Update: Patti and I have talked about some dates in the summer for this, so some minor progress.

Reading
1. Read a book every two weeks. Update: Good progress on this - I joined a book club at work! We are reading the Dovekeepers.

Learning
1. Take one class non work related locally. Don’t know what about yet. Update: no progress here.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Continue to go out for breakfast on Fridays with Vic, Bryan and Patti. Update: I think we went out with them each Friday in Jan for breakfast.
2. Make a coffee date with Kim (1 per quarter). Update: made 1 attempt but our schedules conflict.
3. Leave comments on blogs I read once a week. Update: yes, doing quite a bit of this.

Home
1. Work on (work in progress) making the front study/piano/sitting room homier. Art work, a carpet/rug. Update: had my Boston print framed (need to pick up at the framer's tomorrow).

2. Picked out a paint colour for our bedroom. Plan to have the painting done over Spring Break.

Encouraging kid's accountability

We are trying to boost Sophie and Fynn's personal accountability.

I set up little sticker charts for them tonight on some calendar cards I got in a scrapbooking kit. They can earn stickers based on displaying certain kinds of good behavior over the course of the month of February.

For Sophie it comes down to practicing her piano and ballet steps (for her upcoming ballet exam) and being civil to Fynn (I am not expecting perfection but no more fighting).

For Fynn he needs to continue to work on "being a good boy" -- I know that is not a very specific goal but for him it basically means displaying some positive behaviors (listening, not screaming, etc). He also has goals around staying in bed at night -he likes to get out of bed and peak through the railing to watch Top Gear at night and he roams into Sophie's room to play (while she is trying to sleep).

Instead of buying them something at the end of the month, if they get all of their stickers they can turn in their cards for a trip to the movies. Vic and I are trying to teach them the value of "experiences" versus having more "things." I tried to explain this to Sophie the other night when she was complaining about not having a "thing" that one of her friends did. I reminded her that she had the benefit of enjoying some wonderful experiences (e.g. Disneyland trips) that her friends may not have.

We shall see how this goes.

More Unplug and Play

Unplug and Play week is over but we are trying to keep the spirit of it somewhat alive. The kids can watch a bit of TV each day but we are trying to do more games.

Fynn really loves his Richard Scarry Matching Game. The Busytown characters are very cute. Fynn has quite the good memory - much better than mine.

These two...

Sophie stayed home for a couple hours this morning to let her rest up a bit from the bad cold/flu she has been suffering with. She was much better after lunch so I took her up to the school. 25% of her class was away sick, so her teacher planned a very low key afternoon which was just perfect.

For Brownies tonight the girls had a field trip to the local pet store. Lots of fun touching a snake and holding a hamster or gerbil (not sure which).

As I mentioned earlier this week, we have been trying to lessen our TV watching. The kids only watched about 1 hour tonight and that was when I needed to get some work done. Right after daycare and before dinner Fynn did two puzzles, which is really working out to be a good activity for him instead of TV. Sophie was at Brownies so her TV time is already lessened. We then did a couple of stories after their baths.

Small baby steps...

Unplug and play - Family Literacy Week

We are trying to do some of the challenges associated with the Unplug and Play Challenge for Family Literacy Week which is January 23 - 29. Having the kids watch less TV is also one of my 2012 goals.

After I got home from the gym tonight we turned off the TV. Sophie did her homework and Fynn had some quiet time looking at one of Vic's bike books. Then Miss Jen came over for Sophie's piano lesson which is the perfect 30 minutes of completely unplugged mind expanding time.

I suggested to Fynn that he and I do a jigsaw puzzle. He loves puzzles and happily did two of them while Sophie had her lesson. After their baths I did submit to putting on the TV for 20 minutes or so which gave me some time to have a shower (I had my fitness class at 5:30pm). I find the TV is extremely helpful when you want to have the kids entertained for a bit and ensure that they are not fighting with each other.

We wrapped up the night with a few pages of their Richard Scarry book.

Some accomplishments today

I met three goals today:

1. I completed the final exam in the 4 part exam series for my Work-Life Certified Professional certificate through World at Work. It was something I have been plugging away at for my professional development at work. Vic and I drove down to Kelowna today so I could write my exam. I passed and I am so happy to have that all behind me, although I did enjoy the program.

2. The other goal (much smaller, but more fun)was to get back to scrapbooking again. I did this page to document Fynn's first time on skis.

3. I ticked off another item on my to-do list and had Sophie's birthday invitations printed up. We are going with an art themed party. Here are her invitations that I had printed through the photo finishing dept at London Drugs. I am super happy with how they turned out - and so is she!

What's making me happy today

1. I joined a book club with some women from work. I love finding fellow bookies. It is also one of my goals for 2012 around making more time for "community."

2. The kids are happy. They are watching an Arthur DVD that Sophie requested from the library. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

3. Vic had a good day at work with some solid business opportunities.

4. We have confirmed that our bedroom will be painted in March during spring break. Yippee!!

Benjamin Moore Moonshine

Teresa from our local Benjamin Moore store came over today for a free colour consultation. She was quick to help me find a new colour to paint our bedroom and on-suite.

We are going with Benjamin Moore Moonshine. I love it. Just some touches of blue-grey. Will make our wood work pop.

Making the house feel warmer this year has been one of my 2012 priorities.

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

In other news, Vic to Fynn to Connor's 5th birthday party today (at the local Bowling Alley). Sophie was invited to a movie with Maggie. All in all, a fun day.

All is quiet on New Year's Day

One of my favourite songs ever. It is from U2's War album. Love the haunting lyrics:

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day

We had a wonderful dinner last night with Bryan and Patti. I have found over the years that it is more important to enjoy yourself, doing what makes you happy then following the crowds on NYE (or any other time for that matter). For us that means a first class dinner with good friends.

Today was equally lovely. We took the kids for a walk and then later in the afternoon Vic's cousin Neville, his wife and their two kids came over for a visit. Perfect -- it also ties back to one of my priorities for 2012: community.

Right now the kids are watching this movie and then we are having pancakes.