A Life, Lived

Do Your Part

It isn't difficult.

YUP

Zoom Workouts

This captures things nicely . .

A Thought Provoking Perspective on COVID

Got the Jab

I received my first COVID vaccine this morning. It turns out people are right - relief and happiness are the main side effects.

Anti Vaxxers . . .

I've been reading a lot lately from parents who are justifying not vaccinating their children. We are in the midst of a few outbreaks here in Canada ad the only thing they have in common is parents who believe pseudo science BS. SIGH

Let's Talk Day

Today is Bell Let's Talk Day. Launched in 2011, the annual Bell Let's Talk Day is the most high-profile event in the national Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative. By getting engaged in the mental health conversation across a wide range of communications platforms on Bell Let's Talk Day, you directly drive Bell's donations to Canadian mental health programs all year round.

Bell donates 5 cents to Canadian mental health programs for each of these interactions on Bell Let's Talk Day at no cost to participants beyond what they would normally pay their service provider for online or phone access:

• Talk: Every mobile and every long distance call made by Bell wireless and phone customers
• Text: Every text message sent by Bell wireless customers
• Twitter: Every tweet and retweet using #BellLetsTalk, featuring the special Bell Let's Talk emoji, and every Bell Let's Talk Day video view at Twitter.com/Bell_LetsTalk
• Facebook: Every Bell Let's Talk Day video view at Facebook.com/BellLetsTalk and every use of the Bell Let's Talk frame
• Instagram: Every Bell Let's Talk Day video view at Instagram.com/bell_letstalk
• Snapchat: Every use of the Bell Let's Talk filter and every Bell Let's Talk Day video view

Total Bell Let's Talk Day interactions since the first event in 2011 stand at 867,449,649 and are expected to exceed 1 billion on January 30. Bell's funding commitment for mental health, including the company's donations based on Bell Let's Talk engagement and its original $50-million donation to launch the initiative, is now $93,423,628.80 and expected to surpass $100 million on January 30.

 

 

Out of Commission . . .

Apparently 4 months of working too hard, not getting enough rest, and generally not taking care of yourself will catch up with you. SIGH

I do not get sick often but when I do - look out.

Paul finally convinced me to go to the doctor who confirmed my diagnosis of acute sinusitis.

She also gave me a lecture for not coming in to deal with it sooner to which I replied that I was too damn busy to go to the doctor.

This led to a second lecture.

Really, it was as if my mom were in the room. SIGH

Now I am resting in bed, popping the maximum dosage of amoxicillin and squirting steroid nasal drops up my nose twice a day.

Paul was a fine (if somewhat bossy) nurse.

Today he has gone to work and the cats are keeping me company.

Fingers crossed that I feel more human soon.

What is in Your Glass?

This picture tells the tale of two vineyards which sit side-by-side in Bordeaux.

The land cannot help but tell the story. On the left, totally organic farming with soils full of life. On the right, chemical driven farming using Monsanto roundup, where the soils look parched and hard. Choose.

Woulr you rather drink wine made from the grapes grown in the left vineyard or the right?

Hello 2014

It seems hard to fathom but this is the 7th New Year post I've composed on this blog. 7 years is a whole lot of cooking, blathering and ranting.

One of the things that I don't often admit to is how much I love the tendency everyone and their brother-in-law has to make predictions when faced with a new year. They see a nice, fresh, pristine year ahead full of the potential for chaos or beauty - the pull to wade in and make a prediction or three hundred is just too much.

Thank goodness. This is the stuff of entertainment pour moi.

Equally entertaining is the failure of said resolutions, usually by January 10th.

I on the other hand do not feel the same pull to use January 1st as the rationale to make predictions.

I did one year and got a scathing comment from a reader who was clearly suffering from a dearth of happiness. Luckily she moved on (well, assisted by some electronic detective work and my discovery of her identity) and I've not heard from her in years.

That being said. I do feel the tug contemplate the year ahead and think of things to improve upon. Not change you'll note, improve!

I suspect the reason why I suddenly feel the pull towards self-improvement is that this year I turn 50 . . . half a century on this earth. If a milestone like this isn't reason to sit back and contemplate one's existence I do not know what is.

Here goes...

I think, now that I conteplate turning 50, that it may be time to grow up. This year I resolve to get a will. A real one. I've had one of those will kits for years, Paul knows where it is but it is unsigned. If anything happens to me he better rush about and get some witnesses quickly. It is time to plan for the inevitable.

I resolve to get a physical in time for my 50th birthday. I do not care for doctors - they poke and prod and then say 'you're fat'. Nonetheless, I assume that at 50 things start falling apart so I best focus on preventative maintenance.

Part of that physical thing means getting back on track with my weight. I was doing well up until about two years ago and things have slowly crept away from me. I need to get back to healthy eating, exercising, and fitting into clothes I like again!

And finally, the other day I was looking at the piles of crap in the basement - stuff that we have set aside for the past 10 years to sell at a garage sale (which we haven't had in 10 years) and realized that these piles of crap were taking up half of the basement! This year it will go.

Those are the big ones.

Of course I will continue traveling, exploring local food producers, trying to be a good person and so on.Those are a given.

Hmmm - perhaps that last one should be on the 'big' list! :-)

Anyway . . .on with 2014!