STOP and smell the flowers

 

Hmmm --- there's a price to pay for being cooped up during COVID. I also want to mention that I got outside every day during the shutdown. That's just part of my daily routine -- rain, snow, sleet, sun, heat - whatever, I'm out there. 

But here's what I'm learning - while walking is a great exercise, it doesn't compare to cycling. I must have pushed extra hard in the spin class to get my 30 KM, but I was exhausted for the rest of the day! 

Well, it didn't help that I ended up having breakfast at 9:30 after spin class and walking the dogs. I did have an early morning snack, but EATING the right thing at the right time, is extremely important. I must figure out a way to rework this because I was drained. I know that part of it is the push in spin class - I usually need a nap in the afternoon of the day of spin class. My personal chef has been so busy with work that well, dinner is falling apart as well!

Another part of the problem is that I had my T-shirt class, which means I was mostly sitting in front of the computer. I confess I had to shut the camera off so I could snooze in my chair and semi-listen. I did get the T-shirt done, so I'm good with that. 

Sometimes with the heat, I don't take the dogs into the forest as the humidity will kill you - well, it won't kill you, but it's humid, and you get soaked. So Lexi and I have another path we take, and it takes us past a large church. There's a nice little spot to sit and reflect, and I stopped there yesterday to reflect on life, think about others who are no longer with us, and OK -- so I stopped to rest! I enjoyed the flowers, while Lexi had to smell them several times. 

Lexi smelling the flowers

Oh boy -- I had to make a stop at my MIL. She got a new iron and no clue how to use it. Well, it's not that the iron was confusing -- there seems to be a whole lot more going on there, and well -- it's not going in the right direction. 

Speaking of walking and milestones, look where I am on my cross country walk!!! I'm on the Confederation Bridge that joins PEI to New Brunswick. When I first did my route, I had completely missed PEI. Then with help from the support team, I learned how to change the route. 

Gosh -- remember when all we had were paper maps and no real clue where we were going? I had better figure out how to change the route again because I messed up the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, and I need to get that fixed. I'm almost there (OK - so I'm not), but it's getting close. 

But I'm right on track with all my challenges. Here's how my mindset has changed and how I wish it had been like this years ago. OH -- did I mention that I also signed up for a yoga class last night at 6 PM? Don't even ask, but I felt amazing after the spin and yoga classes, and I feel awesome today. 

Anyway, I knew that I was out of milk and bananas for breakfast, and I wouldn't be happy this morning if I didn't have them. Yes - I was in the car coming back from yoga and could easily have made a pitstop, but I did not. I came home, parked the car, got my little shopping bag, and walked to the grocery store. HEY -- I was 2 KM short of my goal for the day, and that's the same distance to and from the grocery store. It takes about ½ hour to walk there, grab a few things and walk back. The temperature had dropped, so it was perfect. 

Here's the other thing about walking to the grocery store. You don't overbuy! Oh no! Not when you have to walk it home. I didn't take my backpack yesterday, and I had to carry milk, soup, and corn home. That was heavy! I saw something else I would have liked to try, but I wasn't carrying it home, so it stayed in the store!! Junk food like chips? While that is light - there is no room in the bag, so that stays in the store. I don't buy junk food anyway - except for my bars of dark chocolate, which are light and don't take a lot of room. 

The gym is 4 KM away, so it's just a bit much to walk there, but I could get out my bike, although I would have to cross the highway, and well - it's probably easier with the car. Perhaps later. At least, I park in the middle of the parking lot, so I do get some extra steps in when I go. 

But it's amazing how the mindset can make things so different. I'm not sure where the walking thing happened to me - but it was a couple of years ago. I would NEVER have considered walking to the grocery store. Now -- I wouldn't consider taking the car. How I wish it had happened when M was younger. We could have walked everywhere! Oh well -- no big deal. So when I do move at some point, having access to all those amenities within walking distance will be a priority. 

This is why we need to use the products that we buy! I was using some Wonder Tape to help hem my T-shirt. Oh boy -- it was totally stuck to the packaging. It was useable, but good grief - it was a mess. So if you have products - get them sorted so you know where they are, and then USE them. Then you won't end up with duplicates and just say NO when someone offers to give you something that you don't really need. 

My Wonder Tape was a mess

I haven't been in Studio B (other than sleeping during the T-shirt class) in days, and there's this huge pile of stuff to deal with on the floor. I hope to get back to the long arm today -- the next quilt is ready to go, and then I can also deal with this mess. 

A mess in Studio B

But that's not all - I have another magazine quilt that needs to be done in a short period of time. I just got the fabric yesterday. A HUGE shout-out to Benartex, who supplied the fabrics. I'll need to get a close-up shot of their tagline on the box. I love it. 

Fabric for a magazine quilt

And if that isn't enough craziness at my house, I did this to my phone. I switched it to French. I've been rehearsing and practicing, but I'll take everything I can get. Besides, I'll need the phone in French for part of my presentations. It was super easy, and it literally changed everything to French!!! Holy -- who knew it was that easy. 

My french phone

The weather videos are in French, Instagram, everything!!!  So I'm having loads of fun with that. 

And I have one other thing to share with you, which is hilarious, but gosh - it's the perfect thing for me at this moment. So this office has ALWAYS been the dumping ground at this house. A great number of years ago - I hired a professional organizer to help. Things got cleaned up, but then it became the dumping ground again. I'm not sure where we hid everything because there was still a lot of crap in here. 

But look what I found the other day. This is exactly what I need as I go through the numerous boxes of paper. 

What to do with paper?

Hmmm -- this might just become my new mantra. I think I might be good for a lot of the paper, but I know there'll be some that I'll question the validity and I'll need to go through and ask myself all these questions. This is SUPER CRITICAL to the success of getting this space clear. 

But I won't be touching it for a while as I have to tackle downstairs!!!!

I've got more stuff to share, but no more time today!!

Have a super day!!!! And as the Meteo Media says (sorry - my keyboard doesn't do accents without looking up all the ALT characters), it's raining! Oh, joy!

Ciao!!!!!