a peek inside the fishbowl

I spent a little bit of time the other night digging around for really old blog posts. I started blogging when Emma was born (before it was called blogging!), but the posts below were the earliest I could find.

(You will need to click the image to enlarge.)

 

That means I’ve been blogging for nine years. Nine! And this is what that baby looks like today. :)

There are so many fun and creative things I’d like to be doing right now, but I haven’t been feeling so hot. Mark has been home sick this week so I’ve been walking the girls to school in the morning. It’s totally messed up my schedule and so I’ve been skipping the gym. (I know!)

Forgoing exercise makes me tired, and hungrier, and I eat more bread products, which in turn makes me more sluggish and hungrier. It’s a cycle and I’m stuck in it right now.

I don’t know why, but scheduling stuff tends to work for me. I know I’ve talked about this before, and I don’t mean this to sound like I’m a total scheduling manic who has her Outlook calendar going off all hours of the day, it’s just that when I have it in my mind that something is “scheduled” … it somehow becomes easier to motivate myself to do it. This applies to a whole lot of things:

– Laundry is scheduled for Mondays
– A trip to the gym is (normally) scheduled for 8 a.m. M, T, W, F, and sometimes Saturday or Sunday
– The girls are scheduled to go to bed at 8:00.
– In an attempt to improve my fruit and vegetable intake I have recently scheduled a yogurt/berry smoothie for 10:30 every morning. (So far this one is working!)

I also schedule my writing/work. My best time is this time, morning. Everything else has to be scheduled around that.

(As I type this I am basking in the light of my LiteBook. I need to be more regular with it and SCHEDULE IT IN. Duh.)

Other things I need to schedule:

a) visits to the grocery store. This would require 
b) scheduled menu planning for more than one dinner at a time 

I have been negligent in this area of late. Let’s take last night’s dinner for example. We ate pogos and coleslaw and carrot sticks. POGOS for chrissakes. It’s CIRCUS FOOD. At least the slaw was broccoslaw. The other night we had french toast and sausages and fruit out of a can. A CAN. As for the sausages, I’m starting to rely on them a little too much.

Thankfully, I am close to getting a little bit of help in this area. I can’t reveal the details just yet, but let’s just say it’s good and very very timely given my slump.

I’ve had wicked cravings for something hot and spicy. Perhaps that’s what I need to help me wake up?

Mark is still home with pneumonia. The antibiotics are finally kicking in. He’s feeling better, but is still tired and worn out.

Yesterday I went to the wonderful World of Maps store (ever been in there?) and bought a giant fold up paper map of the Maritimes. We started planning out our route and booking a few places.

It’s interesting how different we are in all of this. Mark is itching to BOOK STUFF ALREADY whereas I really need to pour over the materials and not feel totally overwhelmed.

We had several conversations exactly like this:

Mark: So are we booking that one in Cavendish? [Said with credit card in hand, finger poised on the Enter key]
Me: Um, maybe.
Mark: I thought we liked this place?
Me: Yeah…
Mark: So?
Me: What if it’s not The Best place? [Said quietly, looking wistfully at a page full of Travelocity recommendations, finger poised on the Next page link.]
Mark: [Grumbles. Then walks away.]

Am I crazy or what? I feel overwhelmed by all those dots on the map. And there are so many g.d dots on this one. What if we commit to something and then miss something totally awesome?

I also worry about spending too much time in the car, staring out the window for hours on end. This is not how I want to experience the Maritimes – which look so beautiful and quaint and hands-down friendly.

We have a couple places left to book: one in Quebec City, and I think we’re up in the air in Baddeck, but otherwise it’s starting to come together. For better or worse. :)