Weekend Wrap Up

 Happy Saturday/Sunday/Monday!
I had hoped do a link up a couple of Tuesdays ago about My Loves, but that didn't happen. We are still alive, and doing well. Here is a wrap up of my/our wknd:

The Weekend began Thursday night, as Friday was a PD Day.

Thursday: After school, I ran a few errands, and I went home, and had a quick shower, and grabbed a bit to eat, then I headed on over to the school for their annual Pajama-rama Evening. Y'all, it is the cutest thing, seeing all the primary kids in their jammies, listening to a story! Grades K-3 came for an hour or so of story telling by parent volunteers, and a couple of teachers. Yes, even we staff had our jammies on! At the end, we handed out cookies and milk. I stayed and chatted with the staff and moms, and came home. I am not sure what else I did. I think I relaxed and watched some TV, and went to bed.

Friday: We had a half-day of teaching/presentations, then some of us went to a local Indian food place for lunch. I am not a huge Indian food person, and I had never been there before, but it was pretty good. We had a lovely visit. Most of the staff left, and 4 of us stayed and talked...and we were about to leave, when our boss and her hubby came, so we stayed longer. I was feeling really tired, and not well, so instead of my usual going to the library, I went to the dollar store, and went home...and had a nap. For real. I actually slept. I woke up around 5 or so, and watched tv, and got ready for the evening. I ran a few errands, and then went to a friends "moving forward" (her words) party. I don't go out with people I don't know (well, I don't go to places/parties where I don't know people), but I thought that it was important for me to go, so I went. I am SO glad I did, b/c she was really happy that I came. I stayed nearly two hours, and had an ok time :)

Saturday: I had a super-long sleep in, and I managed to get laundry and dishes done. I watched TV (I am super-behind in the Victoria series), and just hung out and relaxed. I got dressed at 1, to head out to a co-worker's for a book party. Then I went to the library, and to the dollar store, before meeting up with my church ladies/group for dinner. I normally wouldn't go to dinner, due to money, but I said no last time, and I haven't seen them in ages, so I went. We had a nice evening together, and the food was really good. I got home around 8, and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.....or SOMEthing! I think I watched some Frasier. I have a few seasons (dvds) out from the library, and I am enjoying watching a few episodes (I actually watched a lot of them this evening...Monday evening). I stayed up late, as usual.

Sunday: I went to church, helped on Nursery duty, and then went to the church potluck, and then came home, and home and relaxed for awhile (I think I watched Grey's, and some of Victoria), and then went to my friends for a few hours. For the first time in years, I missed watching the Oscars, and they didn't record, so I only can see them through the magazines, and tv repeats. Yes, I heard/saw/read what happened. I feel bad for La-La Land, but it is just a show, so I won't lose any sleep over it. Anyway, it was crazy-busy wknd, but it was a fun change from the normal of relaxing, and watching too much tv.

Ten Things of Thankful

 I had hoped to link up last week, but I never got around to it...so here it is...a week late :) But the "Thankfuls" are still the same!

1) GC to/for Safeway
Valentine's Day I was given a gift card to/for Safeway at school. I have no clue who it's from, but we were so blessed, surprised, blown away, and humbled (it was quite the amount).

2) Handy Hubby (Computer Fixer)
This time, he fixed the bugs, etc. Now, it works...with (a little) less drama!

3) An awesome PAC Lunch
 Two Fridays ago, our PAC gave we staff a wonderful Hawaiian-themed appreciation lunch. It was very good. We had pulled pork bunwiches, cupcakes, fruit...it was SO GOOD!

4) Sister is arriving home in two weeks
She is arriving in less than two weeks! I cannot wait!!!
[Edited February 27, 2017: I should add that she has been away for nearly 2 years doing her Midwifery Training in The Philippines. This isn't a normal coming-home arrival. She did come home June 2015, but it was only for a few weeks. So, as you can see, this is a big thing!!!]

5) Awesome Co-workers/Friends
I love my co-workers, who are also friends!!! They are always so encouraging, and always put a smile on my face. 

6) Warm Weather
K, well, it was warm last week, when I started this! It has gotten cold again, but it is still KIND OF warm! 

7) Our NICE Neighbours
We have nice, normal neighbours. I hope to have them over sometime this week for coffee and dessert.
 
8) Calico
I love our kitty. She always makes us smile. I think I take a picture of her and post it on FB/IG nearly every day.

9) Family
I love my family. They are always there to support us when we need it.

10) Pay Day (and this just added for this week)/Hubs' full PWD Benefits
I am very happy for pay day...and that Anker got his full PWD amount on Wednesday. We were hurting hard until I got paid on the 15th.

Those are my Thankfuls for the last couple of weeks. What are you thankful for?

Five On Friday

Happy Friday!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful week. Ours went well, and it went by super fast. Thank you, 4 day work week!!!

Here are some top fives of the week.

1) Family Day

Monday we had our 5th (?) BC Family Day. Alberta has had one for years, and I think Onatrio has had one for a long time, as well, and BC was whining about having one for YEARS, and the year I was at school for my School/Community Support Prgrm we had our first one, and I love having an extra day off. I think this was the second year that it really made a difference...as last year I was off on sick leave, and the previous two years, I was working at my support worker job, so that didn't really apply to us. It was nice having an extra day off. The kids and staff sure needed it (A quick wknd recap at the end of this post)!

2) Valentine's Day

Anker and I have nearly always had "dud" V-Days. I don't know what it is...one year we had a fight, and most years, we don't have enough money to celebrate, etc. Actually, we did go out last year for a dinner, which was nice. Well, this year, we were gifted (next "Fave") a GC to a local grocery store that allowed us to eat more than 1 wk old stew, so we actually had a lovely ready-made ham dinner, and had a nice dinner and visit around the table. It was in the living room, but still. Yes, we spent the rest of the evening in our respective parts of the house, but hey...I am happy that we had some time together. We actually went out shopping together for the groceries, and he bought me a potted rose plant, and I well, didn't get him anything..ha! V-Day was great at school! I got a ton of cards and some chocolates from the kids at school, and I did do cards up for the kids. It was a fun day, and in the afternoon, we had a fun party of treats and games. I also got taken out to/for coffee by a friend.

                 Anker did make brownies. They didn't turn out great, but they aren't too bad with icing.


3) Gift Card

An anonymous person (I STILL can't figure out on who!) gifted us a GC from/to/for a local grocery store. It came at a crucial time, in we which we needed it the most. We are both humbled, blown away, and thankful for this.

I ended up buying a People magazine with This is Us' Chrissy Metz on it. I love her. #fangirl #girlcrush


4) 100 Day

100 Day happened yesterday, and it was a fun time and CRAZY time! It was the first time that whole primary department had done it, so it was quite the undertaking, and experiment! It was a fun morning, with lots of activities surrounding 100 :)

I didn't get super dressed up for 100 Day, but I did manage to put on my bathrobe...for about 2 second for this picture. I will do better next time. Maybe.

5) A Great Family Day Wknd

I had a lovely (if somewhat weird) wknd last wknd. Friday, I stayed home and watched TV (I think). I actually cleaned our bathroom Friday night. I know..#adulting! Saturday, my plans kept changing, but I did have a great day. I slept in, hung out in the morning, went to the library, grabbed a quick bite to eat with coffee, came home, and then went up to A and K's for supper (Anker might have come with me, but his teeth have been bothering him something fierce, and he was a bit grumpy). We had a lovely supper of spaghetti and garlic bread. I hadn't seen any of them in awhile, so we had a nice chat. H is hilarious! I came home around 10, and stayed up late. I had plans of going to church on Sunday, but I ended up going to my friends house to kitty/house sit for a few hours. I read magazines, and played with their new kitty. I grabbed coffee, and went to my friends for a few hours. I came home and just hung out. Monday was Family Day, and Anker and I had a nice day; watching T&T news conference from the White House, and ran a few errands, and then we had some stroganoff for supper. I think this was the day/night that I put a few things up/in the bidding sites...and some of them even sold!! #coffeemoney

The above pics are from the last few times this week that I have gone for coffee. Yes, too much, I know. I think they will be few and far btwn for the next while.

 Our friends' kitty...Sweety :)

Loved these blueberry perogies. She told me I could have some, and they were really good!!!

Oh yes....and even this happened LAST week, it is worth being shared....ANOTHER snowstorm!

And now...there has been LOTS of flooding.in town. I am thankful that we are ok, but there have been a few people that I know who have had some flooding happen in their homes.

And...just two tidbits...because, well, you know...I can...:)

I have been putting some Berenstain Bears Books on hold at the public library, as well as I have been putting some Veggietales DVDs on hold...you know...for the kids :)

I also bought a new top from Wal-Mart today. I am getting tired of my clothes. I am not a clothes horse, but like to buy the occasional piece of clothing (i love clothes...I just hate finding them, trying them on, and paying for them!). I found a lovely longish rusty red top today, and I really like it. I will model it and post on/in here in the next day or so.

Well, I think that is all for now. I have another post that I will be doing either today or tomorrow. I may also do a TToT post this weekend, as well.

Don't forget to head on over the bloggers' websites and link up :)

Highlights

Well, as I wrote in my last post, I do love and need to be alone. However, the last week or so, I have been kind of busy with people.

Let me explain...last Monday, I worked a half day the student I work with left early, and I met up with my friend J for a coffee date. Yes, we hadn't seen each other in 6 months, and we saw each twice in two weeks. Did I mention that we live in the same small city? We had a nice 90 minutes together before she had to pick up her kids from school. Tuesday, I met up with another friend after school for coffee (for both of these visits, it was to give them their tea orders). Wednesday, I met up with Mom (and Dad came and visited with Anker) for an hour or so. Thursday, I had a craft night at the library, and Friday, after the dentist, I went to my friends house.

Anker has been doing pretty well with "keeping house" lately. He has been trying to clean out our toilet, he made waffles, bread, roast chicken, and being an initiator of what to make for supper. He has been doing dishes, and doing the kitty litter.

My sister is coming home in 4 weeks!!! I remember when she went to the Phillippines, and how we thought that February (it is March that she is coming home now) 2017 was SO FAR AWAY!! Now, it is in mere weeks away. She graduated last weekend (on a beach!) from her course, and we are all so proud of her! She is also flying into our airport, so that will be fun :) We are having a birthday party/welcome home weekend for her early March.

We are going to have a niece in June! My brother, Seth, and his wife, Naomi found out over the wknd that they having a girl!! We could not be happier.

I am doing the 21 Day Bible Challenge with You Version. I gotta say that I will often forget until nighttime to read some of my plan (I have about 30 plans that I am working through), but knowing that I am doing this challenge, and that I *might* win an Amazon Fire Tablet (whatever *that* is!) makes it a bit easier to read.

I have discovered that Vision TV has Little House on the Prairie. I have gotten it from the library, but there is something about watching it on TV. We actually didn't have this channel for awhile...and now that we do (we might get rid of a lot of the channels for the summer), there are lots of shows on there that I like. There is Murder, She Wrote (again, I can get this from the library), Columbo, and I think Matlock is on there, too. I also have started watching (as of tonight) Joyce Meyers!

As also stated prior, I met our new neighbours, and they are really nice. They are Catholic, have two kitties, and seem like normal people who don't drink, party, listen to loud music/tv, or smoke MJ. I have heard them play their instruments, and it is really nice to hear, and as long as there are no drums, nor electric guitars get added to the mix, I am happy.

We have a long weekend coming up. BC didn't have one until a few years ago, and I LOVE having one in February, especially now that I work in a school. I am looking forward to this weekend.

Work/School is going well. I took a day off a couple of weeks ago, b/c I was feeling exhausted, so I asked about taking a day off, and I really enjoyed it. But other than that, school-work life is going well. There are always lots of fun and exciting things happening, and I am always learning (just like the kids!), and I love my co-workers. I did get sick around the time I had my extra day off, and there are a lot of people getting sick right now, but they are all getting better.

Anker is doing ok. Like I said, he has been upping his housekeeping skills, which makes me happy. He has been doing well, for the post part. We haven't gone on any dates lately, except for the dentist on Friday afternoon, but we talk every day, so I guess that's good.

We got a big dump of snow on Friday. I thought winter was over! I hate driving on the snowy roads, but thankfully, the city workers are great at getting to the main roads pretty quickly, and I was able to drive the next day confidentially.

Yesterday, my brother, J, and his wife, C were in town yesterday, and offered to meet up for coffee. They even paid. We had a nice visit, and it was great to see them.

As well, yesterday, I went to a leadership meeting at church. I had only been to one (they have them once a month), so I thought I should go. My friends offered to drive me, which was nice.

I got my bangs cut last week, as they were bothering, but I don't think it helped, as they are now (still!) sticking up all over the place!



Well, them there's the highlights! I hope you are having a great 2017 so far!

Burn Out/Exhaustion and Self Care

I don't know when it started...probably a few years ago...but I really began to notice that I needed a lot of downtime. I love people...and I love going out, but I also need my downtime. I am learning at (ahem!) my age that I am, that I can't be going out every night (or even more than two nights a week), and I don't always want to be around people. I think in part, it has to do with Anker not wanting to get out...but I also think it has to do with my last few jobs. They are all encompassing, then when I get home, I NEED to just relax and chill. I have recognized that I can't always be everywhere and do things for everyone. ***These first few sentences were done a week or so back...this next part is done on February 7, 2017*** I also am finding that I need to be alone. ALL alone! That part started around the time I was at my last job. I would come home, and collapse in our room, turn on the tv, and my laptop (or read magazines and listen to music), and shut the world out for awhile. I know this is a bad habit, especially when I am not even eating meals with Anker, and for that, I need to be better, however, for the other part (just being alone in general), I have no guilt whatsoever. Back when we had bad neighbours (both here and at our last place) where they would be noisy and have loud music, I would go out...to the mall, library, stores, and of course the coffee shop, and I would read magazines, and journal. Of course, I still do this, but I do this in our bedroom. I am finding that I need this recharge time. It is good for my soul. It is for the safety of others. It helps me in my job. I NEED this time. I used to be such a people person. I loved being out and about. I used to love being on the phone. Now, I would rather be alone, and I would rather text people. I sometimes would rather not have any noise (music or tv) in the background sometimes. I love spending time on my SM sites (FB, IG, PT), and generally, having alone time.

Some people need to always *be* doing something.I could no more do that than fly in the air. They need exercise (and yes, I should be walking more); they need to go bed early (I am a night-owl, but I am trying to get to sleep at a reasonable hour), and they need to eat healthy (and yes, I do try to eat somewhat healthy). Self care is different things to different people. I LOVE my alone/quiet time. I do love spending time with family (I LOVE my family, don't get me wrong), and I love going on outings with friends. I babysitting H, and I LOVE chatting with my friends/co-workers at school. I love going on a road trip with Anker, love spending time with him, but, I also know that I need my time alone. There are times when I know I should go and visit my friends, but I just don't feel like being with other people.

I RARELY go out during the week. I actually went out for the first time in forever (well, other than if you count either wknd evenings, a library evening, or meeting up with friends/family for coffee) yesterday, and I was exhausted, and when I did try to go to sleep at reasonable hour, I laid in bed until midnight. If I go out too much/get too involved in activities, I burn out. I know that self care is so important. Just because we don't have kids, it doesn't mean that I don't require self care. There are a lot of people at work who rarely go out during the week as well, as they say they are too tired. I am glad I am not the only one who requires a lot of downtime. Yes, that is also why I read magazines. I used to read books, but I haven't read books in a couple of years. But whether it's books or magazines, I need time to just decompress, and read fluff (which are usually found in my magazines). And yes, I do read my Bible and spend time God, though not nearly as much as I should. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes....back to recharge time :)

Please know that I ONLY sit in our bedroom and never chat with anyone, except at work. I DO get out, talk to people, etc. Anker and will spend time in the evenings and watch our shows together. But, what really feeds my soul, or at least, what really recharges me, is time alone. That is what keeps me from burning out.

How do YOU recharge your batteries?

Weekend Wrap Up

Happy Tuesday! I am feeling a bit down today (the dump of snow over the wknd didn't help!), but I am sure I will perk up tomorrow.

So, my/our weekend was actually quite busy. Friday, it started to snow. Then it stopped, then it started up again as I was leaving work at 3. I picked up Anker, and we went to his dentist appointment. I drove there, and he drove back. The roads were TERRIBLE, but we made it home. As I was heading home, my I had texted my friend to see on how she was doing, and she texted back, saying she wasn't doing well. I asked if she wanted me to come over. We had tentatively planned on getting together on Saturday night, but I thought about switching it to Friday if she said yes to my coming over. Well, she said yes, so I came home, hung out for a bit, grabbed supper, and then, went over there in the bad winter roads and hung out until 11. We watched Big Bang, and chatted. Came home around 11, and stayed up until 1 am playing on my laptop, etc.

Saturday, I slept in, did dishes, and had homemade waffles that Anker had made the day before. They were VERY good!! I did laundry, cleaned up a bit, made granola bars (I would link it, but Pinterest isn't working right now) and chocolate chip cookies (another great recipe I found on PT), took said cookies to our neighbours, played on the laptop, watched tv, went to the library, and came home and hung out for the evening. As usual, we didn't hang out out together (bad habit, I know), so I watched tv in our room, and Anker watched tv in the living room.

Sunday, I went to church with our friends (they drove), and I did nursery. I was really chatty after church, which isn't always the case. They took me out to lunch at McD's, and they stopped by for a few minutes to chat with Anker, and then I did another load of laundry, went out to grab a few things (Anker sold three of his hats on Sunday, so we were able to get some gas n groceries), and I chatted with our new neighbours. They are really nice, have two cats, and are Catholic (Anker and I had this feeling they were people of Faith), so we had a nice chat on Sunday for a few minutes. Sunday evening, I again just hung out in the evening, and I put a few things on/in some of the Facebook bidding groups. I didn't read a single magazine, nor did I watch a single movie. It was a good, but busy (for me) weekend.

I hope your weekend was wonderful.

For pictures from the weekend, head on over to my IG Feed.