Home

This is my home.

My Grandparents home in Gambo, Newfoundland.

I am now 33 years old and have spent a good chunk of my lifetime here.

Growing up, I didn’t live in Gambo, but I spent every summer here. School would be finished in June and it would only be a few days after, and this is where I would be.

We would go fishing, or play out in the backyard, or down to the swimming pool. If on the odd chance we were in the house, you can guarantee that The Toronto Blue Jays game was on. My Grandparents and I would sit down and watch the game, or at the very least it would be on in the background while we sat down to eat.

9 pm was lunchtime. Nan would be sure to have the table laid out with cookies and crackers, and anything else you wanted. There would be company showing up, and we would all be laughing and singing, or watch the Blue Jays game.

This home has always been a source of happiness and love.

Sunday Mornings was for Church. I would get ready with Nan every Sunday morning and head down to the Salvation Army Church for Sunday Service, and in the afternoon she would bring me back after lunch for Sunday School. At night I would be left with my Grandfather, so that Nan could go to the night service, which was usually an outdoor service in the summer.

As the season have come and gone, serious changes have happened, good and bad.

I have grown up and married and have had children of my own, my Grandfather has passed away, and sickness has come knocking.

My Grandmother is the matriarch for my mothers family and I can only hope I can be half as amazing with my 3 children as she has done with her 8. She is a beautiful bright soul who doesn’t let anything get her down. She is always there with open arms.

This house is my home. For as long as I can remember this house ( and my Aunts house up the road) have been a proverbial security blanket for me and I’ve always felt safest here.

Have a beautiful Sunday everyone, I know I will because I am home🧡💜

Story Time

Today I was going to write a book post. I was going to tell you everything I like about a certain book, and why you should run out and buy said book right away. I was going to post lovely pictures of the book with its beautiful dust jacket.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not writing this to hurt anyone. This is a past story and it has been almost 2 years since it happened. Life is Better Now)

Plans change. I have a story stuck in my head that I think you should hear.
So for all of you lovely people, today is…..wait for it…

#WednesdayMotivational

A little over a year and a half ago, I went through a really tough life changing period in my life. It was the week after Canada Day, and everything in my life crumbled at my feet.

Alcohol was involved, Cops were involved. Now before I go any further, no I wasn’t drunk, no I didn’t fight someone in a club, or anything like that. It was supposed to be a fun time though. The Grandparents had taken the 3 kids for the summer, so I was free to do as I pleased.

I wont get into detail as too what happened that night, or name names, but it was just a pivotal moment in my life, and after that everything changed. I do not write this to make anyone feel bad for what happened.

The aftermath of that night is still fresh in my memory though. As I said, the children were away with the Grandparents, and I was left alone in a big house. Left to my own brain to rerun everything that had transpired. I spent the next 7 days waiting for a doctors appointment. 7 days, at 24 hours a day, equals 168 hours I spent awake.
I wasn’t scared or terrified, but I just couldn’t shut my brain off to go to sleep. Netflix and smoking became my best friend. Energy Drinks and Pepsi were my go to drink, and I barely ate anything. I binge watched the heck out of Grace and Frankie, and movies in between.

I think this was the lowest point in my life because I truly felt I had no one around me close by to talk to or help get me through this. I was completely and utterly alone in my mind. My family was a 7 hour drive away, and the very few people I did know in this town were busy with their own lives, and I felt like I would have been bothering them anyways with my own problems.

So I stayed awake, and I thought, and I cried. Not the quiet sob, or silent tears streaming down my face. I ugly cried. I bawled my eyes out until they were red and sore, and my chest felt like it would cave in at any moment.

When I was able to gather myself together, I would just leave the house to walk to the store for smokes, or more energy drinks or Pepsi. I know that was probably all contributing factors to my staying awake, but in that moment I didn’t care. The outside world was a blur. Nothing in that time mattered.

I finally got to see my doctor that Thursday, and ended up being prescribed something to help me get some sleep. I spent the next 24 hours in bed in and out of glorious slumber. I felt refreshed enough after that to gather myself up and hold my head high again and carry on.

Carry on I did!

In the weeks following that event, I moved out of that town and closer to my family, so close that I live with them now, and things have never been better. They help me with the kids, and I am able to focus more on working on blogs and writing.

The whole long lengthy point of me telling you this story is so that if you can take anything away from it, I would want you to know that in a moment of your deepest despair, no matter how bad or ugly things are getting in your moment, it will get better. It may not be tomorrow, it may not be next week, but the sun will shine again, and you will come out on the other side like the true warrior you are.

You Will Survive This!

It took me a long while after to realize, one of the hardest moments in my life was also one of the best because if it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be as content and happy with my life and the path I am headed on now.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and that this week is good to you.

Keep Striving for Greatness.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Wednesday Wisdom! I’m back!

First off I need to apologize for my little hiatus I’ve taken for the past couple weeks. Life threw me for a loop and knocked me down.

Now I am back fiercer than ever and with a clearer vision of where I want to to from here.

Self doubt creeped in and reared its ugly head once again, and my mind became a dark place where every bad thought took over and I lost belief in what I could and will accomplish.

Once in a while life i gonna throw a curve at you or knock you down completely. The main point that you need to take away from all of this is;

It’s ok to fall down,

It’s ok to fail,

It’s ok to get knocked down,

But please get back up, come back stronger than ever before. Show the world that you won’t stay down.

You Are Loved.

Wednesday Wisdom

If you don’t like where you are in this stage in your life….

Then change it. You aren’t a tree. You are not stuck to one space.

I find when I get stuck on what to do next.. I just get up from where I am sitting, step outside and breathe some fresh air and it helps clear my head and refocus on the next task I am going to undertake.

So if you are pacing the floor, don’t know what to do, trying to find a new challenge….

Go for a walk, even if its to another room in the house. Turn on some music, jump around, dance!

The ideas will come. They are there in your head waiting to be grabbed hold of and brought to the light. Turn the dream into a goal, and send it forth for the world to see.

So what if some people don’t like it. I am sure there will be people out there who will.

Side note: Do not let anyone stand in your way. Do not let them hold you back.

You were born to shine!

So go shine on!!!!!!!

Pokémon!

Gotta Catch Em All!

If you are anything like myself, you just sang that line in your head.
(This is the nerd/geek in me coming out in full force)

Pokémon became a very large part of my childhood in 1998, when it first reached Canada. The franchise began in Japan in 1995.

That year, and many after, I spent the better part of my time collecting cards, having battles with my friends, and watching episode after episode of this beloved series.

It probably helped that I lived in a very small town with not much to do, but we spent our time keeping ourselves busy and out of our parents hair playing this. After a time the Gameboy Colour came out and we would spend our hours between playing cards and taking turns playing the game on the lovely Nintendo handheld. Don’t get me started on how much we loved the Pokémon Master Trainer Board game.

Now, the sad part in this story is that I grew up and got rid of my old Pokémon cards, which like many other people, regret to this day. I don’t know what it is about these cards though that keep me coming back. Maybe the nostalgia of a less complicated time.

To this day there is something very therapeutic about opening a booster pack of cards and sorting through them order of types, and putting them in protective sleeves.

For me, the only other things in my childhood that I immensely enjoyed would have been Disney and Harry Potter.

My Monday Motivation in this little story is that things were good then, and they will be good again. Find something that you enjoy, no matter how old you are, have a hobby. This may seem like something for kids, but this franchise has been around for 24 years, so I believe that this is for all ages. The ones who began with Pokémon have all grown up now and new generations have come to love the cute imaginative creatures just as much as we have.

For me, I am lucky my children love Pokémon has much as I did growing up, and now I have a little excuse to have Pokémon around the house. Even if I didn’t have children, I would still have the cards because they bring a sense of calm to me when I just need to unwind. Again, I know how nerdy this is sounding. In the back of my head I ca  hear it.

“She organizes cards for fun. Someone has issues.”

Well there are people out there who collect dead bugs for fun. To each their own.

Keep your inner child alive!

Filter Free Friday!

This is a no filter, say what I mean kind of Friday.

No holding back… I’m an open book today.

Now truth be told, I am like this most days.

Today though, its like it physically hurts to hold back, even if the truth might hurt someones fragile little ego.

I’m not talking about being mean, or cruel to anyone, but honestly I am gonna tell you how I feel. If I don’t like what you are saying or doing, I’m gonna sure let you know it.

 

Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice.

Tonight’s Supper was so easy. I put chicken thighs into the slow cooker at 11 am this morning and let them slow cook on low all afternoon. I also salt and peppered them.

At around 1:30 pm, I pouring in a full bottle of VH Honey Garlic sauce to add the best flavour to the chicken.

The I just let the chicken cook on low until 4:45 pm.

I took the chicken out of the slow cooker to drain and placed it on a plate.

I also made a pot of minute rice which took roughly 10 minutes to cook, from boiling the water to adding the chicken bullion cube and taking off the heat and keeping covered for 5 minutes.

To add to that, I made a noodle sidekick for the children, who aren’t to fond of rice on times.

It turned out to be a beautiful meal, and I used the sauce that was left over to pour over my rice which adds some lovely flavour to the rice.

This meal turned out amazing!

The chicken cost $6

The box of rice was $4( and that box will last a long time in this house)

The sidekick cost $1.

Mommy, I love you.

I hear these 4 words a million time or more in the run of a day.

And this makes everything better.

It makes the hard times worth it, and the good time that much sweeter.

Sometimes it’s because they want something.

Sometimes it’s because they are after doing something wrong.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s because they are just enjoying a moment of cuddles.

I live for these moments because they put everything into perspective. The moment I heard those 4 words, it helps me slow down and enjoy that in a few years time, all I will be hearing is “Mom, leave me alone”, or “Mom, You’re embarrassing me”.

Through all the mess and clutter of the house and our lives, right now my children still want me around, and that’s great. Even when the day comes that they don’t want me around, I will still be there.

Standing behind them to cheer them on, or help them up when they need it.

They will always be my children, and I will always love them.

Epic Mom Fail

Not in a bad sense, but in hind sight, I could of handled the situation a whole lot better than I did.

STORY TIME!

Yesterday morning was like every other. I got up an hour before everyone else, got the kids clothes and lunches together, and then got them up and ready to start the day.

So me and their father brought them to school, and as usual he dropped me and 2 kids off, while he took the oldest to the middle school. Same as usual. nothing different….yet.

Now children 2 and 3 always go to the breakfast program. In this school it is encouraged that all children attend the program, so that no one child is singled out for not having breakfast that morning, and to give all children their best start to the day.

Side note: I don’t really understand why mine go, because they always have a full breakfast each morning before they go to school. I think it may be for the yogurt drinks.

Anyhow, today they decided to go together, 2 would wait with me until 3 came back down from putting his backpack in his locker and changing his sneakers. Mistake number 1. I foolishly said I would wait with 2 until 3 came back, which took forever.
so I told 2 to go on and that when 3 came down I would let him know that she was gone on to the cafeteria. Somewhere in between ok mom, and I love you, in my sleep deprived mind, I told 2 that I would wait for her to come out to give her one last hug before she went on to class. Mistake Number 2.

3 came down the hall as slowly as possible, talking to anyone who would make contact with him along the way. He is a very social animal and will befriend anyone willing to look his way.

By this time I should of already high tailed it out of the school, but oh no not me, foolishly as he walked by not noticing me at all or the fact that his sister had gone on without him, I had to call out to him to grab his attention to let him know that his sister was already gone in. Mistake Number 3. He couldn’t of cared less that I was wasting my morning standing in the main entrance to the school. He went on in and with 3 mins was out again and back on his merry way upstairs. Meanwhile, I am left standing there wondering where 2 is.

After everything was said and done, she comes skipping out of the cafeteria not taking notice that I was still standing there and I had to call out to her for her to come get her hug.

By the time I got out of the school, their father was wondering if I got lost. I sat in the van, and just shook my head in bewilderment as to how stunned I was to wait around for 2 kids who were perfectly fine. I could have been out of the school 20 minutes before I actually was, and out doing all the errands that I had to run yesterday.

MORAL OF THE STORY  

From now on, they get 1 hug each from me and sent on their merry ways for the day, and I high tail it out of there like a cat on a hot tin roof. I make my butt move it out before one of my lovely little angels can snag me into staying longer than I need to.
I love all 3 of my children with all of my heart, but I don’t need to be standing around a school entrance waiting on them all morning when I will be back there at 2:30 pm to pick them up.

Disney Disney Disney

This Thursdays Thoughts, run deep into the realm of Disney.

Our favourite Mouse turn 90 this year, after first appearing in the animated cartoon”SteamBoat Willie”, back on Nov. 18th 1928.

Mickey and his friends have been around for decades, and have always put a smile on everyone’s face. From Steamboat Willie to The Newest Mickey Shows on the family channel for younger generations to love and adore.

Every season that comes and goes, there is always something to find Mickey Mouse involved in, and we cant get enough.

Next month is October, and I am excited to share my own Disney DIY for a Mickey Halloween in my little corner of the world.

All photos were found on Wikipedia, no copyright infringement intend.