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.