The Jar of Possibilities- Week 1

It was an interesting week.  Last week marked my return to the work force.  I was glad that it was only 4 days and that a lot of people were still off, as it made for a slower paced week and allowed me to gradually dip my toes back in the water.  It was a daily struggle to be there as I realized something when I was off... I excel at being at home.  I had time to take care of the need to's and the want to's and was not stressed by not having enough time to do both.   I guess it's not a bad thing to know that you can excel at life and work.  This next year will be dedicated to seeing if I can excel at both at the same time.

As for my after hours project, the tasks went something like this:

• Paint every night after work for a week-  I managed to complete two painting and start a third

Mockingbird Hill.... Inspired by my evening ski.

• Pick a project to complete on the weekend-  The project has been picked and I started work on it early in the week, as it is a large one that fills me with feelings of doom and high anxiety.  I have had a little problem with mice over the last few years.  I seem to solve it only to have the little buggers find a new way in.   Mice, although small and cute when viewed in a context of nature or a cage, provoke extreme anxiety attacks for me when they are in the confines of my abode and able run amok.  I started work clearing and cleaning out one of the storage rooms that they call home when visiting but have been avoiding the other.... mainly because there is no light in that room and it makes it all the more stressful thinking what could be lurking in the shadows.  Today I go to work clearing out and cleaning up the room of doom.  Send prayers as I am going to need it.
• I shovelled the driveway of a neighbour.  Okay it was not a neighbour but it was not my driveway.  I was house sitting all week so I took some time to clean-up the driveway of the house I was sitting.  That allowed me to fit both the challenge and a quick ski  into my schedule before settling in for my nightly painting session.
• I spent a day saying hello and smiling at others.  I was surprised how much of a conscious effort this one took.  I typically smile or say hello... it seems I rarely do both together.  If I was to give myself a grade for my effort it would be a solid B or I guess that would be a Level 3 now.
• Do something I loved doing as a child.  For this challenge I had visions of coming home and building a snow fort in the backyard that had a sign- "No Boys Allowed".  Sadly there was mega snow that night and I had to paint so I had to come up with a  quick Plan B.  That is when I saw the monster snow hill in the parking lot and decided to do another favourite recess thang.... climb to the top.  There was a steep grade on this hill.  At times I thought I was scaling a cliff, but I made it to the top.  I might have had snow crusted on  my work pants, to my thigh and about a litre of snow in my boots but I made it to the top.  I thought I had accomplished this feat,  unwitnessed, but when I got to the bottom I realized a colleague was watching me while brushing off her car.  I am sure my sanity was questioned but who cares...."I'm Queen of the Hill!"

It's over 7 feet high!!!! Great leg workout

• Take a donation to the Humane Society.  If I was a thinking person I would have also brought the dogs' paperwork and renewed their licenses when I was there... but I was too focused on getting to David's Tea that it didn't even occur to me until I was standing in line to give the donation. 
• Do whatever you want-  This seemed to involve a long and lengthy snowshoe with the dudes; sitting and sipping tea while painting; taking pictures for the Photo Challenge and making cookies for next weekend's friend get together.  

• Today I must volunteer-  Don't know what I will be volunteering for... better get the thinking cap on.

In addition to the above, a group of co-workers and I had a brainwave that we could create a snowshoe ski trail in the large outdoor area behind work.  It seems we all carry around snowshoes in our vehicles, so the plan was struck late in the day to spend Friday at lunch breaking trail.  Six of us in total tramped down the mega snow in the back 40.    In total we have 1K of trail set.   It was nice to spend time outside and to have multiple people to take turns being the first in line.  The added bonus was the sun was out- a fantastic change from the grey skies of late.  Here is a sample of our trail.

Looking forward to what next week will have in store for me. 

You Can!!!!!! You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Gimli is often referred to as Hoover in this house.  From a wee age he has been extremely quick at eating.  So quick, that he often will suck in too much food and start choking.  He doesn't let a mere thing like choking slow him down.  He quickly hacks out the tender morsels and promptly sucks them right back in.  Gimli's eating prowess is legendary.  He can down a cup and a half of food in under a minute.  

Let the Feeding Frenzy Commence!

Ferg on the other hand is very, very slow eater.  He picks over his kibbles, selects one, chews a few times.... looks to the left and then to the right... remembers he has food in his mouth and chews some more, eventually swallowing.  

It is not unheard of for Ferg to stand and watch Gimli eat or stare at his bowl for minutes at a time; not eating until he can be coaxed to try a bite or until I break down and hand feed him.   

What's Gimli doing while this is happening.... anxiously waiting for Ferg to drop or knock out kibbles out of his dish.  

Zzzzzwhommp!  Kibbles gone... 'cuz Hoover's on the clock!  

His motto- "No Kibble left behind!"

Gimli's voracity for food and his need to suck up all that is available has led the need for me to assume the role of food bouncer.  I sit, wait and guard until Ferg is done his leisurely meal.  If I leave my post for a fraction of second,  or get momentarily distracted, Gim will push Ferg out the way and suck back the contents before I can say "Hey, what the... STOPPPPPPPPP!" 

This is how we roll every day at meal time.  But today was different.

Today goes down in history as the day that Gimli chewed food.  There was actual crunching noises coming from his mouth.  I was flabbergasted.  I was obviously looking at the wrong dog.... but NO!  It was Gimli who was mindfully enjoying his food at a very causal pace.  Ferg even finished his bowl before Gimli... by a full minute.  I did not think I would ever live to see that happen.  

I  spent the rest of the morning wondering what brought on this change?

Did Gimli make a resolution to eat mindfully? Had he finally changed his hoovering ways??????? 

Bahhhaaaahhaaaa!  

Tonight Gim was back in full Hoover fashion.  I guess this morning was an anomaly after all.  

Living on the Edge- A Tale of Bedtime Woe

When I first got Gimli I had two golden rules.... no barking and no dogs on the bed.  See the bed was strictly for me and for the cats.  The fur family lived by these rules for 10 years and then came Ferg.

Now the house only has one rule.... no barking.  

I claim this bed in the name of all Fergi!

What of the no dogs on the bed rule????????

Well, Ferg heard that rule, snickered and promptly claimed his spot on the bed.  Gimli being the "well trained" dog that he is continues to adhere to rules and sleeps on his perfectly comfortable bed on the floor.... thank the powers that be!

You want in here? What's the password???

I find I don't mind sharing the bed with Ferg in fact it is nice to have a cuddle before falling asleep, but what I to take exception with is the bed to human ratio that Ferg has worked out.  See it goes something like this.  Ferg space= 3/4 of the bed; human and cat= 1/4, if we are lucky.   

There is only one solution, each night there is a race to get to into bed first.  It is an unspoken competition, but a competition that sets the tone for sleepy time.

But your pillow is more comfortable

On the nights when I am quick, I get room to move around and stretch out....... oh delight!!!!    

On the nights when I am not.... it could go one of two ways.  Ferg may leave my small section of bed that I can skooch into  or as typically happens I have to pry and fight to claim even a small fraction of the bed.  I first attempt to remove his gargantuan head from my pillow, which typically flops back into it's resting spot while I try to lift and move his torso.  I push.  I walk to the other side of the bed and try to lift and pull... but Ferg is determined not to help.  I often will give up and lye back on him, thinking the crushing weight of my body will entice him to move.... it never does.  

With time and perseverance I am eventually able to move him enough that I eek out a spot, hovering on the edge of the bed.   I am a sweaty sticky mess but at least I am in the bed.  

Ferg sighs!   Probably thinking "Ohh human why do you even bother?  Maybe you should invest in a cot..... but I would probably want that too!"

While he is busy readjusting to the fact that he has to share the bed I am trying  to figure out a way to sling my right arm so that it is not dangling over the side of the bed. 

I don't get to bent out of shape when I loose as I know I just have to wait.  10 seems to be the magic number.  At the 10 minute mark,  Ferg moves over confident in the knowledge at he was the winner of the evening.  

Now you are probably thinking why don't you just get in on the other side of the bed.  Well dear reader, I am sad to report that Ferg has cottoned onto that game changer and he now stretches width wise across the bed, ensuring that there is no easy win.  The hazards of caring for a smart dog.  

Since I have been on vacation I have realized that Ferg has developed ingenious ways of reclaiming/encroaching on hard won human territory.  Ferg is an on the bed off the bed type of sleeper.   It is when he returns to bed, that, he sows the seeds that will help him maximize his space.    

His tactic is to snuggle in tightly to my side or my back.   At first I thought he did this because he loves me and frankly I was not discouraging it, as I keep the heat on low at night and the extra warmth is appreciated.  But just the other night I recognized this behaviour for what it is..... a space claiming technique.  As soon as I roll or get out of bed, Ferg's body, lacking the bracing from mine, rolls into some of the space I was inhabiting.  Genius really, but highly annoying when you are the one trying to get back into bed.  It's a good thing I have perfected my sheet sling technique for my right arm.  I am just bracing for the day when I fall out of the bed because of Ferg's need to have it all.  

I guess this post really shows who wears the pants in this family and those pants are made of fur!

And So It Begins.....

I have my work cut out for me!

I can't help but think that I am biting off more than I can chew but I refuse to be daunted and will give this a good ole' College try.  A few years ago a friend of mine invited me to be part of a 365 day Photo Challenge.  There was a themed picture for each day of the week.  This project was made all the more challenging by the fact that the only camera I own is on my cellphone.  I did pretty well keeping up with the weekly posts until late spring/early summer.  Then I spent the rest of the year trying to catch-up.

When asked to join her Photo Project 52 the next year I had to decline.  By this time I had been inspired to create my own challenge- The Jar of Possibilities.  I was tired of the rut I was in and wanted to see if making small changes to how I lived my life would have a profound impact on the overall course my life would take.   Trying to meet the demands of daily life, work and two big projects would just be too much change in too short of a time.  I tried really hard to keep up with my 2015 Project but in the end I only finished about 80% of the challenges that I had created for myself.  I was okay with my final score as I managed to complete the most important one..... get a puppy!

Last year,  I opted for the low key gratitude journal.  It was fun and easy to accomplish.  The intent was it would give me a full year to pump myself for another round of Jar of Possibilities Challenges.  Doing the gratitude journal afforded me time to come up with a new set of 365 challenges.  I just had one problem.  As of yesterday I only had 129 daily assignments..... a far cry from the required 365.  As much as I tried, I could not think of any more tasks.  I had pretty much given up.  Therefore when I was asked to participate in my friends 365 Photo Challenge for 2017 I gladly accepted.  It would be fun to exercise my creative brain again.

Well, as it turns out my mind, my brain just needed some time to get unstuck.  As if by divine intervention, this morning I woke up and thought of challenges 129- 365.  Who would have thought that would be possible.

Now the conundrum...... which challenge should I pick??????

Sadly I can't make that decision.  Instead I have opted to do both.  I feel pretty confident I can keep up, but maybe that is just the ever present optimism of my "vacation brain" that thinks time grows on trees.  We will see if 2017 is the year that I can complete two big projects and still find time to do things like work, personal hygiene, eat and sleep.

Will I be able to keep it up?????

I guess time will tell.

On the docket this week.....

Painting every night for a week and creating the following photo's-  change, bundled up, starts with K, nuts, relaxation, J.

I better get cracking or I will end up giving up before I even get started.