new learning

I am writing from my conference on technology. My head is going to explode. I have learned so much, or rather heard about so many possibilities. I "got heck" from the speaker for using my laptop as a clipboard to balance my paper as I wrote out my notes. Apparently techno-guru guy thinks I should have been making notes on the TECHNOLOGY. Yikes!
So when I get home I need to find out more about Diigo, Delicious (this is not a porn site, by the way), mining tweets, Twitter, in the clouds, Google Reader and Evernote....
And the good news is, if I can't read my notes I can always Google "____ tutorial" Apparently you can do that for everything and learn how.... Advice though, don't forget the "tutorial" part after "Delicious" -- ya never know what might pop up there...

busy week

I had a crazy, busy week. The kind of week that leaves you wimpering, waiting for Friday so you can just crash. I did crash early on Saturday night -- and wouldn't you know it my mind disagreed with my body....I woke up at 3am and could not shut the "thinking" off. Then I laid in bed, rather tossed and turned, until I finally gave up. So much for sleeping in.
It's like a cruel trick. The games the mind plays, that is. I know that tomorrow when my alarm goes off, I will wish more than anything for a few more hours, minutes eve, of that deep restful sleep that restores the soul. I won't get it, I know. I'll spend next week running like a crazy person, but I have great hope that I have learned my lessons from this past week and I'll find some quiet moments to train the brain to remember "off."

101 things

I am following the Jack Canfield Dream Big program that builds on "The Secret's" Law of Attraction. There are a series of lessons I listen to on CD each morning. Today's lesson requires that I create a list of 101 things I want to do/have/accomplish in my lifetime. A sort of "bucket list" if you will. Here's my difficulty....I'm stuck at 8. I think I'm at a place of contentment in life. I've accomplished most professional goals. Now my wishes have more to do with helping my kids reach their potential. But that can't be it for me -- I can't be few years short of 40 and NOT have a list. I'm wondering if it's the stage in life. Comment or email if you've tackled such a list. Let me know how it goes. For now, I think I will have to pause at this lesson and dream bigger. When I get to my 101 I'll let you know (notice I said "when," not "if.)

is that the answer you want to give your mother?

I was up at 6am this morning (Saturday morning) so I could get DS to the arena by 7am for hockey practice. I got up early (did I mention 6am), had his hot breakfast waiting for him when he came downstairs, and had his hockey equipment organized. I brought the jeep to the back door so he didn't have to walk as far with a heavy bag in the cold. It was -20 degrees Celsius this morning at 6am. Then I sat in the arena warm room (a misnomer, it's not "warm") until 10am so he could practice and then help coach the mites team. I tell you all this because it sets the stage for phase 2 of our morning.
Phase 2 starts at 10:15am -- it's still -20 out and I am frozen from sitting in the cold for 3 hours. When we get into the house the hockey equipment lands on the kitchen floor. I suggest it ought to go to the basement to dry out. I get a long sigh and a "huff." I start Saturday morning chores and I ask DS to unload the dishwasher. This time the sigh is louder and the dishwasher door bangs. At 11am I again call my hockey player to help -- "please collect the garbage from around the house and leave it in the backroom for dad to take out." The response I got was shocking, but not unexpected given the foreboding of the sighs and huffs earlier, "Mom, can't I just sit and watch this episode, I don't want to work right now."
There are many things I could have said at this point, but the great thing about having children is that they can "read" the look on my face that says "is that really what you want to say to the woman who not only gave birth to you, but also spent the morning in a cold arena and now must make you lunch?...." That's the "mom look" that mothers perfect over time, as they discover that their children are not really ungrateful, more just oblivious and need a tuning in every now and then.

SNOW DAY!

Today was a snowday!
I love snowdays.
It's like time stands still. I get caught up on everything that has been bogging me down -- laundry (got all the handwashing done, and ironing), bookwork, office tidy (I've been using my label maker....more on that later) cupboards sorted, closets tidied, and tons of schoolwork/homework caught up.
A snowday is a reset button for me.
And tonight, instead of running around like crazy-mom I get to blog, put babes to bed and then read my book.
Ah! I love winter in Canada.

The Zebra

My DSiL (dear sister-in-law) gave me a great set of CDs for Christmas by Wayne Dyer, called "Excuses Be Gone." I've been listening on my way to work every morning -- found I haven't missed the Kix Chicks on 106.7 at all...
One of Wayne's stories has stuck with me for a couple of weeks. I'll attempt to paraphrase, but if you get a chance to hear the CDs or read the book, I highly recommend it.
It seems Wayne was out on an African safari with his family. One morning he got up particularly early so he could see the African sun rise over the savannah. About 50 yards from his tent was a herd of zebras, grazing in the early morning. What was remarkable about this sight was that one of the zebras had clearly been mauled by a lion. It's hind quarters were mangled, one hind leg was missing completely. But this zebra was calmly grazing with all of the other zebras. Later that morning one of Wayne's children was complaining about something (no Internet connection, I think). Wayne told them what he had seen that morning, adding "and do you think that zebra was complaining? Was it asking 'why am I the only zebra who was picked on by a lion?' That zebra was going to be dead before lunch, but there it was calmly eating breakfast and hanging with it's friends. No complaints. You have no wireless connection in the middle of Africa? You got nothing to complain about -- that zebra now, that zebra has lots it could be complaining about....
I've told DS and DD the zebra story. Whenever I hear a "whoa is me" from one of them, I say "tell it to the zebra."

I'm back

Well, it's been a few months -- we're in a whole new year, infact.
I've decided not to let a busy life take me from something I really like anymore....
so I'm going to attempt to "blog" at least once a week.
Call it a new year's resolution.
Actually I did set myself a new year's resolution for 2010. I promised to practice "gratitude." For those of you familiar with "The Secret" you recognize this virtue. I've been keep a short (5 line) journal every night of the 5 things I am grateful for that day. It's pretty mundane stuff.
For example, my journal might say "functioning dishwasher." That's cause I'm grateful that my dishwasher was repaired, like REALLY grateful.
Then I hear more news from Haiti and I figure my gratitude journal is pretty feeble when one considers what I ought to be most grateful for -- health, family, democratic stability, safety, infrastructure....
So when I am grateful for my "envy of the town" shoes, know that it comes from the vain part of my brain, not the heart....