It's December and in the festive spirit and no recent Christmas pictures I will share a Throwback of myself and my girls....this is a few years back but I love it.
Since my last update my oldest daughter graduated grade 9 and looked amazing, truly like Cinderella. She felt like it too and it was an evening to remember. With school ending, spring hockey ended too and she secured herself a job part time at Tim Hortons. Her hard work paid off as she saved all summer and recently purchased herself a Macbook Air laptop. As I told her, hard work pays off.
Summer brought more hockey, and a riding show for my youngest where she landed herself 2..yes 2 Second place ribbons. I guess she's a natural. If only we could win the lottery to buy her a horse, or ourselves land. I will dream. Aside from kids activities we got out camping more than the year before but still not quite as much as we would have liked. I love camping and our new trailer makes camping especially wonderful and comfortable and allows us the security of bringing along my parrot. As per our yearly holidays we made it out to Kelowna for a week. Part of the week I had my girlfriend and her son out and while they were visiting we had amazing weather and stayed busy. We took in the canal in Penticton, mini golf and much more however after they departed the sun went too and we had rain for the remainder of our trip. We decided that next year we would camp for a week instead.
Lots packed our days, BBQ's, weekends away, days spent crossing off to do's, a Katy Perry concert for my oldest and her 15th birthday...the girls visited with their grandparents for a week towards the end of August and did some shopping. I wish I could clearly recall every event and thing we accomplished but there was so much.
We did get the RV pad extended, the Trailer into the backyard with help of a 360 mover :), the yard level and new grass planted, the deck got a new coat of paint...My husband got a new truck because of course new toys (RV) requires a new rig right? It's a fantastic vehicle though, a one ton loaded truck, leather, dvd, sunroof, megacab...you name it. I have to admit it sure makes traveling comfortable, especially the air conditioned and heated seats.
So I guess we all managed to accomplish and enjoy things we wanted this summer.
This year summer went fast and time was just not a friend to get everything we had wanted to done. We did break ground with plumbing and the basement is framed, electrical is done however it's now December. So our intention of having our oldest in the basement by school start sadly did not happen. Now we are shooting for a spring 2015 move...oh time please be with us! Once drywall is complete I'm sure the rest will go fast, but it's just a matter of getting to that point.
Now the kids have started back to school, grade 10 and grade 7 and actually as I type this we are into December, so really they are half way through the school year. It's hard to believe that they have grown up so much. Many new and wonderful adventures ahead for sure. Of course both are doing amazing. I'm impressed that my oldest has managed to balance a job and hockey on top of school while keeping her grades up.
Speaking of hockey, first year and she made the girls Midget A team! Div 1!! The team is doing well and has been busy! Much busier than ringette. Already they have played in numerous tournaments including one in Penticton which they just returned from and placed 3rd. Presently my daughter is unable to play having strained her MCL. Through physio she hopes to be back on ice in the early New Year. She's off crutches already and wearing a hinged brace.
Obviously life has been pretty hectic as I have been MIA. Truly and honestly when I get down on myself and in life I tend to cast things to the side. This being one. No one wants to read daily struggles of someone failing and swimming in negativity. When pain becomes a lot I find focusing on anything positive is hard. So I stopped watching what I was eating, picked up a smoke....then another...and really just quit on me. I still managed to balance life though not easy through migraines and pain BUT I made it through each day. That is an accomplishment in itself.
So where am I now? We're just days out from Christmas and I am super happy with me. I haven't lost a bunch of weight or anything huge to be honest. No big news to share. I am managing. I quit smoking, I'm eating healthy, I'm finding ways to deal with the pain without medicating and while some days are harder than others I'm making it. I find just accomplishing each day to be a huge part of my positive focus. With that accomplishment I have found strength again to focus on doing things I enjoy...managing the house, crossing off to do's, focusing on myself. I've been painting which I find very soothing. I've been reading. We painted the whole main floor and redecorated and I love it. Like our bonus room it's fresh and new and uplifting. I needed that. My husband loves that our home has more 'flow' and that it is more modern and cohesive.
Here's a sneak peak picture of the main floor....
My To Do List has shortened dramatically surprisingly in the past few months. I've been decluttering weekly and have been doing online auctions for my clutter, selling it to bidders for money. What a great deal and I do far better than having a garage sale. In fact....we have done so well that my husband and I bought ourselves a King size bed! In doing so our oldest moved into a queen size and we bought a double for our youngest. We have talked on and off for the last couple years about getting a king size bed and now having decluttered and found this amazing auction site we have in turn benefited.
So....
-basement plumbing done, framing done, electrical done, drywall started
-house decluttered and going through boxes to declutter more
-new beds
-main floor painted & redecorated
That's doing quite well I think based on the fact my oldest has hockey 5-6 days a week. Not all on ice but either dry land or yoga. Plus my youngest and her riding. Then add school work, errands, house work.....we've done well the past few months.
I have NO set goals at this point. While I am totally a list developer I am taking everything one day at a time and doing things when I see time. I jump at the opportunity and use time wisely. I know everyone generally sets New Years Resolutions but I am not so sure I will. I'm hoping to live healthier over all and focus more on overall life enjoyment. No stressing the small stuff. Camp a little more, get my oldest into the basement but aside from that....if I can live healthier this next year I will be happy.
I know that a big part of my unhappiness stems from frustration with how I feel day to day. I know based on that I am an emotional eater. I've been trying hard to learn how to just get through days and manage pain but focus on positives. It's a daily struggle and a learning curve with so many bends but it's my life. I know stones will fall into the path and try to derail....like recently I went to urgent care with pain in my neck and shoulder. I was rushed in and the doctors were concerned based on symptoms that it could have been a heart attack. Thankfully it wasn't but I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which very well could be related to the accident just as my TMJ is. We are looking at routes to go at this time but it is what it is. It was actually this diagnosis that kicked me in the ass as I woke up realizing that I can sit around depressed that I have pain or I can fight through it and try to live. Negative was breaking me. Positive is a much happier place. In this moment I can honestly say that I am happy. I have no space to rent for shit. I have no desire to deal with drama, no care to deal with stress which can be avoided. I am cleaning my home, ridding my life of negatives and pushing stones out of the way with a stronger voice and it feels great!
I hope to keep up with this more often. Maybe not daily as I now see how hard it is to be realistic about fitting everything in and some days I can hardly sit up to do anything let alone blog, but it's my hope to keep my blog more up to date.
I'm thankful to be back.
Today My Name Is...Warrior
