Breakfast

This week I've been doing a cat sit for a new friend, and I go to her house in the mornings and evenings.  She only lives about a 10-minute drive from my house.  So I've been waking earlier to include this task, making coffee & a quick breakfast (oatmeal, toast and jam, etc) then head out to visit with & feed the cat, which I've been enjoyed doing.

Usually, I am in bed sometime between 10pm and midnight, then usually asleep by 1am, and I push things regrettably, and am up at 7am (or even later!) to shower and dress for the day, let the dogs out, feed the animals, put on a pot of coffee, pour a glass of water over ice, and make breakfast, then rush out the door, mostly late.

This week I've been waking a half hour earlier, at 6:30am to include leaving and doing the cat sit, yet still pushing the limits and getting to work at 8am late - 8:15am usually.  However, this morning, I started my day at 6:15am and decided to treat myself for breakfast and coffee, thus doing less at home, so I showered, dressed, let the dogs out, fed the animals, left the house and drove to the gas station convenience store on the way to the cat sit, bought a full breakfast of choice (buffet style) of a spoonful of scrambled egg, a turkey and a pork sausage, half a spoonful of homemade hash browns, half a spoonful of roasted breakfast potato with red onion, green and red bell pepper, two small breaded chicken nuggets, and a small half-sized Chinese egg roll.  I also bought a coffee and a bottle of water.  Then did the house sit and enjoyed my breakfast while the cat ate her breakfast.

Needless to say, even though it was not a lot of food in my food container, it still was more than I could eat, so when I got back home, and with 15 minutes to spare, I split the leftovers between the dogs, hand-feeding them half the pork sausage, most of the little roast potatoes (no garnish) and both chicken nuggets.  They were thrilled to get some of this yummy breakfast, too!

I really love early starts so I will make every effort going forward to wake at 6am each morning and enjoy my whole morning before work starts... to watch the sunrise... to read the newspaper with a mug of coffee, outside if the weather allows... to make and eat a proper breakfast and drink a full glass of water... and to spend a good half hour playing with my dogs in the morning before heading out to work for 8am... and to make work on time.

Whatever you do today, enjoy!

Conversations

It's funny how you have an innocent conversation with someone you just met, talking about all sorts of worldly matters, chit-chatting, making small talk, and you come to find out how much you enjoyed the conversation and their company in that moment.

I met a new person a week ago, and she is just lovely!  I really believe that when you have a conversation with someone, it's for a reason.  You always obtain something positive from it.  Either a fact you didn't know; information about something you thought about but didn't know much and you find out more; you find out how close you really may be connected (example... you both know the same people or cross paths in the same space at some point but never knew or noticed before).

Life is full of strangers and familiar people.  Everyone is a stranger until you meet them.  Strangers are people you've never met, spoken to before, or taken notice of before.  Once you meet someone, you find you run into them many more times, and then, because you've met, you say hello, or wave, or greet them with familiarity, rather than never noticing them at all.

It's a wonderful topic of strangers and familial relationships and how they evolve.

I'm thankful for this person I just met a week ago and I can see a very positive, life-long friendship evolving with her.  It seems that we can help each other and support each other in a very positive way with business and friendship.  It's started already, and we are only one week in the new familial relationship.  It's awesome and so very inspiring.  Sometimes you are meant to meet the people you meet - good karma is what people call it.

Always take the time to say hello to someone and get to know them more than just to say 'hello' - you may never know what may come out of the first real conversation you have with them.

Have a awesome day! B.

Oatmeal

Good day to you!

This morning it's all about my oatmeal experience.

Admittedly, I didn't have oatmeal much at all while growing up.  Breakfast was usually eggs, bacon, toast, cereal or codfish and potato.  As I grow older I try to eat as healthy as my budget will allow (fresh produce here is more expensive than processed/prepackaged foods).  I stick to some regular staples, one being a mug of oatmeal every now & then.

This morning, when I delved into it, and took in the full aroma, it actually was such an amazing, comforting scent that I closed my eyes and smiled widely.  The heavenly smell even brought back a memory when I was 14 and on a Young Life trip, wherein oatmeal and grits were the regular breakfast staples provided to us on that trip.  It was a wonderful trip and I'm thankful for this moment of a satisfying breakfast and such sweet memories.

Oatmeal is wholesome, quick and easy to prepare for breakfast, and I will make every effort to enjoy it more often.  I do enjoy it plain and with no sugar - just on its own with water or milk - but next time, I may add a teaspoon of butter or a few berries of fresh fruit.

Looking into the nutrition of oatmeal online, I stumbled upon a cool site called Eat This Much and I'm going to install the app and join the twitter and FaceBook social media pages as well.  This helps to give meal plans and I think I'm going to start a food diary so I can monitory what I'm eating and see if I can lose a few unwanted pounds in the process.

Hope you have a wonderful day!
B.

Quaker Instant Oatmeal Original

Spring Cleaning for the Soul

It was a long holiday weekend this past weekend, and I decided I was not going to do any work.  It was "spring cleaning" for my brain.  I decided I would laze around, take time just for myself to relax, do some crafts, take a nap (I think I've had 5 in 25 years), stay in my pyjamas and just do nothing special unless I felt like it.

Normally, I'd be working at most, about 6 hours each day of the weekend and on a holiday, but not this time.  I think I only did about 6 hours the whole 3 days in total - whooo wheee!

I baked cookies and cooked dinners for the next few days so I wouldn't have to cook again until Thursday.  I watched some TV and browsed my social media.  I washed a crap load of dishes and did a couple loads of laundry.  I swept the floor and tidied up a little bit, but mainly, went outdoors a bit here and there just to watch the birds and get some sunshine, but I also did very little.

This was a much needed rest for me. I'm usually on the go all the time, and felt I really had to recharge.  I get like this every 4 or 5 months where I feel like I'm going to crash and actually begin to feel like a cold is coming on, so before this happened, I decided this is the break time I need in order to jump back in with both feet and get on with my life and work.  I was starting to feel down, and exhausted, and foggy, heavy-headed with a slight headache, my back was aching, etc. so I had to stop it before it bloomed into something bigger.

Now that the weekend is over, and today is a work day where I have to leave the house to do work for others, rather than work from home, I am feeling ready.  I had the chance to make decisions this past weekend on my next chapter of life... what I wish to do next and what I wish to achieve next and get this moving forward.  I was in a bit of a stalemate for a couple months there and felt like I was not moving forward at all.  Part of that was because I was tired and part of it was that I was feeling unhappy with the lack of others doing their part in what affects my life choices. 

However, I've talked to myself and affirmed that I can only change me and my decisions.  I can only make positive changes to improve my life.  I cannot rely on others to change or improve my life in any way.  After this personal inner pep-talk, I have a renewed positive outlook and will strive for all the things I need and want to do.  I feel better, calmer, with more clarity and focus, and not tired.

This goes to prove to me that when I'm feeling down and like I'm going in circles, it affects my stress levels, even though I don't realize it, and my body hampers down and feels like it is shutting down and I start to feel bad and almost in a depressed way.  I see how my mood affected my well being in a negative way.  Today, my mood is better, as I made sure when I woke up, I told myself I'm going to shower, have a healthy breakfast, feed all the animals, make the daily floats, prepare a snack with me for work, and smile, and be ready for a great productive day. 

In doing this, I feel so much better already.  I feel inspired, content, eager to make my new plans for the week, month and so on.  I feel good and healthy and energized.  My mood definitely affects how my life is lived.  So, onward and upward... til next time, be kind to yourself and wear a smile - it helps.  B.

January 2019

I cannot believe that there is only one week left in January 2019.

Wow, how busy I am, to have these weeks just fly by already - one month almost finished in the year.  It continues to surprise me how quickly time passes when you have a full life (work, appointments, errands, social get-togethers, school work, etc).

My 'wants' this year will not all be fulfilled.  I "wanted" to attend an overseas seminar this month but I could not do it.  I "wanted" to attend another overseas seminar in April (there are 4 this year), but again, I won't be able to do it.  I hope to make the last two but if not, I won't be renewing my membership as it just won't be worth the dues if I cannot partake due to life's circumstances getting in the way.

The weather is very cool so I'm enjoying January - it's a great change from the long hot and humid summer we have, which spills into Spring and Autumn seasons - so I'm welcoming the nice change.

My new online courses I'm taking are fantastic - putting a few new certificates under my belt for future business.

My pets are all doing well, except we lost Mom's cockatiel, Pete (he was about 12 years old) and her dog, Stacey - a min pin, is still here, although old and has an ear infection - she's 16 years old and doing okay considering her age - walking, eating, pooping, barking now & then when she feels she has something to say.  She amazes me.

Work is going okay, thankfully. 

My health is doing good, and better than last year, thankfully!

January is passing by quickly and there is a lot to do - get outdoors, put your shades on, and your bunny ears, and get to stepping... chow for now!
B.