Moving Thoughts #1: Rent or Own

Even though my impending move is still many months away, I am already consumed with THOUGHTS and FEELINGS about it. So I created a special place to put them in – this 18 month Moleskin journal:

I found a package of stickers at Michaels that seemed appropriate. And went appropriately to town on the cover.
The fact that the fountain pen ink is reddish and looks kinda like I am writing in blood may or may not hold appeal for me. Just sayin’.

So, as can be seen from this journal entry (made in early July), my plan is was to rent for a bit (up to a year) while I search for a new property to buy on the Island. I say “was”, because I had a bit of revelation this week.

I realized I was quietly stressing about the whole “renting for a bit” idea and decided to dig deeper on those feelings this week when I was at home recuperating from heat exhaustion – earned on my birthday, at WTFest.

(I still got to enjoy most of the festival but had to lie down in the shade during The Beaches’ set so I wouldn’t pass out, from overheating. 1 alcoholic drink and no food all afternoon/evening. What a rock n’ roller, eh? 😉 From badass to candyass in one afternoon – that’s me alright!)

I recovered enough to see these guys (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker aka USS) put on a lengthy, satisfying set of all their great songs – they were the main attraction for me, at WTFest.

During a conversation with my daughter she brought up a concern that she may have to move around the island for work as she is at the start of her career, and didn’t want us to end up too far apart. I said: no worries, gonna rent at first anyways but that got me thinking. And with thinking came a bunch of fears and assumptions that needed deeper exploration.

I was raised by homeowners – people who believed 100% in the wisdom of investing in property vs. renting space. My goal as an adult was to rent the cheapest place possible until I had saved enough for a downpayment and could afford to take the plunge into home ownership myself. Why pay my landlord’s mortgage when I could be paying my own – was my rationale. Renting was a stop gap; something you did until you could do “better”.

I soon realized I was actually kinda scared of going back to renting again. It brought up all kinds of fears about: “wasting” money on rent; living in “suboptimal” conditions (when did I get so fucking bougie???); hating (already!) not being able to improve/decorate the living quarters I was paying for, to my satisfaction. And it brought back all my feelings about some of the yucky places I lived in over the years, with no money to fix them up. And how much I love the space I am living in currently, that I designed and decorated to my satisfaction (finally!!!)…A whole lot of feelings going on, yessirree.

Friends of mine recently went from homeowners to renters and spoke positively of freedom that comes from renting but I wasn’t convinced…I needed more information. Hard numbers, facts, figures!

As one does, I hit the interwebs looking for articles on renting in retirement. One especially spoke to (the MBA in) me – this enlightening article and embedded video, is worth a read/watch. Take your time. I’ll be here when you get back.

Long story short, I have a whole ‘nother attitude about renting. In fact, it is not out of the realm of possibility that I may never own a home again. Instead of tying up (and tying myself down with) funds in another property, I will invest what I clear from the sale of my current abode. What I earn from this could be applied to rent – against those pesky unrecoverable costs – leaving more of my capital intact, for a future home/hippy van/trip around the world/whatever else might strike my fancy purchase.

My friends were right. Renting can be freeing.

You know, I figured these anticipated life changes (retirement, moving) were going to spark some revelations for me. But I didn’t think it was going to happen quite this quickly. Or be quite so HUGE.

What about you? Thoughts on renting vs. owning, especially in retirement?

Rock on,

The WB

A Celebration of Many Things

Updating the months of my life lived on my painting. Click on the 3rd phase of my life link, below, to see my post discussing this piece.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I’m not going to talk about Roxodus anymore?

Well, actually I am going to talk about Roxodus for one hot second and then shut up about it (hopefully forever). The latest: the organizers have now filed for bankruptcy. No surprises here, folks!

For those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram (and why the hell not?! I’m FUN – above photo notwithstanding), here is me pouting at the site where Roxodus WOULD have SHOULD have been held, on the weekend it SHOULD have happened. Luckily, I’m not bitter. At all.

So here’s what I REALLY want to talk about: tomorrow is the 3rd anniversary of my second (and hopefully LAST) mini-stroke aka TIA. All has been good on the cerebrovascular front ever since July 26, 2016 and I sure as hell hope it stays that way.

And here’s WHAT ELSE I really want to talk about: I turn 60 YEARS OLD On Saturday! Yep, about to fully enter the 3rd phase of my life (and my wish is that I do get another 30 or so happy, healthy years in this phase).

Hehehe! But, seriously – when?

AND I am RETIRING FROM WORK at the end of this year. YES! I am so excited to enter this next phase of my life as a retired person and see where it takes me. I’ve been carefully taking mental notes of all the retired bloggers I follow (Y’all didn’t know you were role-modelling, did ya?) so if I screw it up, it’s all YOUR fault. Nah, just kidding…I don’t need any help to screw things up. 😉

AND I am MOVING TO VANCOUVER ISLAND in 2020! Expect many more posts on this topic as I plan and scheme and dream and realize this next big adventure of mine.

If you’ve been reading ye olde blogge for a while, you know that I was heart-broken when my daughter moved to Vancouver Island last August. Well, I got over it…sorta. But things have never been the same around Chez Badass since that time. And although I love my place (NOW, that I’ve spent the past 3-4 years renovating and decorating it), it has lost some of its appeal for me since my daughter became more than just a few minutes away from me. (Like a 6 hour flight away!)

And when I visited her last winter (here and here), that really sealed the deal for me. I can’t think of a better place for me to spend my free time (and by golly, that would be ALL OF MY TIME soon now, wouldn’t it?) and still be able to say I’m living in Canada.

To commemorate my actual anniversary of the day of my birth, I am spending Saturday at a rock music festival that IS actually going to happen – WTFest in Brantford, with my concert buddy, Dave. I can’t think of a better way to enter my 7th decade than rocking it out to some great live music. And to celebrate all the good things in my life, now and in the future.

I know you’re laughing right now. Don’t think I don’t know this. Also, no promises.

Whew, that was a lot of announcements for one blog post. I think I’ve worked up an appetite for a big ol’ salad. Luckily, I have one waiting right beside my laptop.

Oh look. It’s a Caesar…salad. 😉

Rock on,

The WB

Answering the call: Newfoundland

Way back in March I answered a phone call from blogging (and now real life) buddy, Joanne from My Life Lived Full. “Listen Deb”, she said “I’m going to go to Newfoundland to do some hiking and I thought you might like to join me…no pressure, I’m going regardless but in case you were interested in joining me…”

Well, I gave a qualified YES right away but needed to check if my ever-diminishing stockpile of vacation days would allow it first #workingsuckssometimes. Once that was out of the way, the booking and planning began in earnest!

And almost before we knew it, the day was upon us and we landed in St. Johns’s! I could (and probably will) write so many posts about this wonderful week spent in Canada’s most easterly province, but this one will focus on our adventures outdoors. We hiked most days, and even took a boat trip out to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.

The weather: much cooler than in Ontario (and we are having an unseasonably cool spring!). Leaves were just beginning to emerge on the trees when we first came to the island. We had researched this and packed accordingly.

Joanne’s grand plan (now mine too) – to hike parts of the East Coast Trail. Mission accomplished, just about every day of our stay!
First day hike – thankful I was prepared with warm base layers, gloves and wet weather gear. Photo by Joanne Sisco.
Don’t like the foggy weather obscuring the fantastic view? Wait 15 minutes.
That’s better!
Joanne admiring yet another spectacular view.

One of our goals for this trip was to see icebergs. Newfoundland did not disappoint as we spied them on our adventures most days. We got up close and personal with one while heading out to Witless Bay Ecological Preserve with Gatherall’s Boat Tours.

Immediately the boat made for an iceberg, so thoughtfully placed in our path. To say Joanne was thrilled would be the greatest understatement of 2019. 🙂
Joanne sees an iceberg up close. She’s good, I tell ya! Alas, I never saw a single whale on our NFLD trip, despite calling for them from the cliff tops.
One of the islands we passed. SO. MANY. BIRDS.
Millions of sea birds.
Puffin! I had to really blow up this shot as these birds are tiny and fast. Hard to capture.
Birds, birds, birds.

And now, back to hiking!

Apres boat trip, hiking around Witless Bay
Joanne spots an iceberg from the shore. This woman is insatiable! 🙂 Note: The weather improved and we were able to shed some layers.
Another day, another hike. Smiling faces from Holyrood and the Great Trail.
Stop the car!!! Iceberg spotted in Bay Roberts.
Hiking the Beach Trail in Bay Roberts.
Another view of “our” Bay Roberts iceberg.
Last day hike. We started out in Flatrock.
View from the top of our hike. Wall of fog fast approaching.
Joanne watching the fog wall come in. Don’t step back, Joanne!!!!

What an amazing week of stunning vistas, wildlife (sadly, no whales though), and all the weather one could think of. Except snow and ice, thankfully. I can heartily recommend Newfoundland to anyone who loves nature and hiking. Bring along a like-minded adventurer (cough*Joanne*cough), for the best time possible!

Rock on,

The WB

Spring Equinox: Thoughts on Intentions, Life and Death(!)

It’s Spring!!!! Let me just speak for all (OK, maybe not you guys on Vancouver Island…grrrr! 😉 ) Canadians and say how relieved we are that IT IS OFFICIALLY SPRING ON THE CALENDAR and Winter 2019 is now behind us.

As is my habit, I use these times of the year to check in on my progress towards my intentions. This provides me with a quarterly reminder and opportunity for course-correction, if needed. It’s like using the Daylight Savings Time changes to remind you to check the batteries in a smoke detector, except more in keeping with the natural world!

So…so far, so good. I am keeping up with making good on my word for 2019: Record, entering a few bon mots (or not so bon mots) every day in my journal.

Wish I’d said that. I tend to be more of a wise-cracker, but hey! Calisthenics! That’s like exercise, right? Exercise is good. Even if it’s only brain exercise.

My health journey – also so far, so good! I’m killing my 10K step goal. And, as of today, I have lost just over 13 pounds since I joined WW last October. I feel great, with lots of energy and enthusiasm to get me through my days. My jeans fits nicely – even a bit loose – for the first time in a long time. I love everything about WW – I love the app; the flexibility; the variety; the focus on healthy, whole foods and daily activity; the support and sharing at the workshop; and of course (so important for me) – the accountability. I even lost 1/2 pound after coming back from my winter travels – and believe me, I did not track my food/liquor intake or even try to restrict myself while vacationing!

One of the best things about this weight loss is that already my blood pressure has come down significantly. I may soon have to adjust how I take my BP medication, and hopefully can get off it completely at some point.

Treated myself to a new water container at work when I noticed I was not drinking enough during the day. I saw this at the store and was drawn to it, like a magnet. I likes the SHINY. 🙂

The A-Z Blog Challenge is coming up at the beginning of April, and for the first time in 4 years, I won’t be participating. Because I’ll be travelling again (AGAIN!!!) in the middle of the month. This is turning out to be quite the year for me. So here’s what’s happening: my SIL and BIL have put their names in every year for the past 10 years, for the opportunity to buy passes to the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. And you guessed it – this year they got notified their names were drawn. So guess who got invited to join them down there? That’s right. THIS GAL!

We’ll be staying in an “executive home” and meals and transportation to and from the course are included. I don’t have much more details than that, at this point. Except for knowing the dress code and rules for being a spectator (no cameras, cell phone, no electronics PERIOD). This last part has me a bit stressed. What is a blogger without her camera??? Speaking of …

I decided, after months of thinking about it, to treat myself to a new camera.

My new baby. With the video screen flipped up. Yet something else to learn how to work. Check out the size of this “getting-started” manual. I downloaded the “real” manual from ye olde Canon website. Oh yes, brain calisthenics for the win!

My previous camera is 5 years old. Which is like using a 5 year old phone or computer. Ancient technology. I’m looking forward to using the video function more and more. I may eventually post the odd video diary to YouTube if I feel confident enough to try out this vlogging thing. Speaking of YouTube…

My new obsession: Caitlin Doughty, and her channel

Caitlin is an author and YouTuber, and the founder/leader (or at least one of them) of The Order of the Good Death – a death-positivity movement. I hope I haven’t lost you yet! She is a mortician and an advocate of helping families take back control of their loved one’s death and funeral rites, helping them to choose greener burials (usually much lower in cost than the traditional way too) and to say goodbye in a healthier, more personal and meaningful way. She is trying to change the dialogue around death and empower families to stand up to pushy funeral homes, and does it with short, fun videos that I find very entertaining and educational. Her channel has hours of content about death-related topics and rituals from around the world (Ask a Mortician! Iconic Corpses! Morbid Minutes!) that are addictive to watch!

Here’s a really good one about grief, to give you a sample. One that’s not quite so macabre – not that there is anything wrong with that! A-hem!!!

What she says really resonates with me because I consider myself a pretty death-positive person. I don’t shy away from the topic or people who are dying. (Let’s face it: we are all dying. Just some of us sooner than others).

In fact, with all the deaths I’ve had to experience in my family lately, I’ve found that I have kind of an aptitude for it, if that’s the right term. Someday I may volunteer in some capacity to help people with death. Like at a hospice.

And I feel really strongly about having a green burial. I sent Mizz J a random text this week telling her (again) of my wishes to be sewn into a biodegradable shroud and dumped, un-embalmed, into a hole in the ground, to nourish the soil and plant life. I even sent her a link to a green burial cemetery – you know – just in case something happens before I can arrange it for myself. As one does…

Thinking of and planning my death is not at all morbid, to me. My mom planned and paid for her funeral years in advance and it brought her great peace of mind. And made our job of caring for her in her illness and death so much easier at a difficult time. Because we knew exactly what she wanted done, at the end.

That’s it for me. Happily thinking about death at the start of this season of new life. 🙂 How are you all doing at this point in 2019? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Rock on,

The WB

2019 – The Year to Record

Happy New Year, fellow Badasses (Badassians?)!

Welcome to 2019. I hope you  are doing better than me – I’m currently fighting off a virus with the help of Tylenol Cold & Flu* (extra strength).

So, while the medicine is making it possible to sit upright and type, I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been thinking and planning for this next turn around the sun.

I’ve decided my word for this year is RECORD. I just don’t do enough of this and I’d like to see that improve in 2019.

To that end, I purchased this uber-cute Hobonichi planner, from Japan:

A6 planner from Hobonichi
Hobonichi Techo A6 for 2019 – small enough to throw in just about any purse or tote bag. Filled with beautiful, fountain pen-friendly paper…

I came across a couple of booklets and packs of stickers at Michaels, and used them on the planner to help set my intentions for 2019.

inspirational stickers
Stickers decorating the inner cover.

And on the other side of the inner cover:

more stickers on cover
More reminders/inspiration on the flipside.

And here are my intentions, for 2019:

Goals for 2019
Turning the pages to a new year with new intentions…

My intentions are pretty modest, therefore do-able. I have realized from a couple of months of being on WW that I am not going to lose weight quickly. I was 9.9 pounds down just before Christmas and a bit chagrined to see the scale going down in 1/2 pound increments, week after week. But now I’ve come to realize that this is just how it’s going to be for my age and metabolism. And 1/2 pound per week is 2 pounds per month and that’s 24 pounds gone in a year. Which sounds pretty amazing to me, after all! Attitude: adjusted.

My other intentions include teaching myself how to paint with watercolours, racking up 10K steps per day on my Fitbit, making a record of each day in my Hobonichi (no matter how terse 🙂 ), and tracking my spending.

How about you? Any great plans for 2019?

Rock on,

The WB

*Not a sponsor of this post, although they could should be!

I Feel Dirty

As I am preparing to acknowledge and celebrate the Winter Solstice  again, for the 2nd time, I’ve been watching a bunch of YouTube videos on the subject so I get an idea on how this was done historically as well as what people are doing now.

It’s very eye-opening, how many beloved Christmas symbols and practices actually arose from earlier religious practices and were neatly folded into the Christian celebration of Christ’s birth (spoiler: most probably didn’t happen on December 25).

For instance, the following arise from pagan traditions, and were co-opted by Christians:

  • “Christmas” colours – red, green, gold, silver
  • Yule log
  • Wassailing
  • “Christmas” tree
  • “Christmas” lights and candles
  • “Christmas” wreath
  • Hanging of mistletoe

Don’t get me wrong. I am not knocking Christmas. I grew up with this holiday and have many fond memories of magical Christmases with family and friends. But I’m at a stage in my life where Christmas is more a remembrance of those I’ve lost and as such, more reflective and less celebratory. It’s just not the same anymore. I don’t have any little people in my life right now – and may never have and that’s OK  – so Christmas is no longer all that and a bag of chips, for that reason either.

(Plus I’m not a Christian so there’s that. I guess you could say I grew up as a cultural Christian, rather than an observant one. Historically, the Christian religion has only brought strife, division and pain to my immediate family… only my one sister has found any solace in it.)

But celebrating the Winter Solstice really resonates with me. I am becoming more and more tuned to the natural world once again so marking the shortest day of the year and welcoming a new solar year just makes more sense for me than a Christmas or New Year’s holiday celebration.

So I’m busy working on my intentions for the Solstice, and also learning what I can about this ages-old tradition of humans (especially those from northern Europe – the bulk of my genetic background) marking this special time of year.

This week, I was watching a cute video in which a guy played himself and a long-lost Viking explaining how to celebrate Yule. Video ended and I dove into my journal to write some thoughts down. Meanwhile, YouTube cued up and started playing another video (as it does) that I had not selected to view. In it, a cute little 20-something blond girl (hair in a braid, even) is discussing the myths of Santa Claus, etc. Innocuous, right?

Wrong! This video, produced by something called Red Ice TV, quickly devolved into a neo-Nazi, white supremacist rant about how us (Us? Not sure I want to belong, now) “hard-working, resourceful Northern Europeans” have had our culture appropriated by “lazy southerners” (Huh? Code for people of colour and Jews, I think) and we need to take back Yule traditions and make Christmas WHITE again. (Which doesn’t make sense, I know, but that’s what little Miss Hitler said.)

HOLY SHIT! I couldn’t have been more shocked if the video had turned into some wild porn orgy instead. In fact, I could have handled that a lot better than what I saw and heard.

I can’t stop thinking about it and that stuff like that exists on Ye Olde Interwebs, to infect people’s minds with hatred. I mean, I knew intellectually that fake news and hate speech exists in cyberspace. I had just never searched it out or come across it in any way until this week.

And now I feel so dirty.

I’m not going to link to the offensive video, as I don’t want it to get any more views than it already has.

All I can say is: Be careful out there, gentle readers – I’d hate for you to come across vile filth like this.

Stay safe, and rock on,

The WB

On a Health Journey…

Strong is the New Sexy
Not interested in being sexually appealing to anyone anymore, but am def interested in being stronger! Plus, it’s a cute shirt.

When I was reviewing my progress towards my goals way back in September, I realized that once again I had proclaimed I was going to take better care of myself, and once again, I was not doing the same. So I reflected a lot on why that might be so. I mean, I know what I need to do (lose weight and move more), and I certainly know by this time, how to do it. Yet, nothing was happening. Which means two things, to me:

  1. It’s a problem with my head more than my body.
  2. I need help to be accountable to myself, as I have proven over and over again that I can’t stick with it when I try to do it on my own.

I turned to the Tarot for guidance, using my new Simple Tarot deck. I drew a 3 card spread with this question in mind: What do I need to know about starting a weight loss/fitness program?

Card 1 – Do it

Card 2 – Don’t do it

Card 3 – How to decide

3 card Tarot spread
Tapping into my own intuitive processes, for clarity of thinking and decision making.

As you can see, the cards told me what I already suspected: I could change my fortune by taking better care of myself or I could anticipate unwanted changes in my health; and the way to proceed forward was by using my intellect to strategically analyze the problem and my options.

So I spent a week or more researching differing ways to achieve my goal. I even drew up a little chart, listing all the ways I could do this across the top (on my own, Noom, Weight Watchers, MyFitnessPal, SparkPeople), and the attributes of each down the side (things like cost, syncing with my FitBit, online vs. meeting options, food and exercise diaries, etc.).  Setting up this chart helped dramatically, in being able to see and compare all my options.

After this exercise, it was clear to me that Weight Watchers (WW) was the best option for me, in terms of what I considered important (a physical meeting and weigh-in, syncing with my FitBit, an app on my phone etc.). I was able to tap into a 50% off sale, so I signed up for a 6 month’s membership.

I was kinda surprised by this because, going into this exercise, I was against going back to WW. Decades ago, I went to WW for a long, long time – a long time because I could not hit the lifetime goal weight they had set for me. It took me many months to realize that it was unachievable for my body type, and eventually I had to get a doctor’s note to have my goal weight range altered to be one that was suitable and healthy for me. That left a long-standing bitter taste in my mouth about this program.

Going through the strategic exercise and doing the research on what WW was all about NOW made it the obvious choice, despite my lingering feelings about my past experience.

Seven meetings later (6 weeks on the Freestyle program), I am down just over 8 lbs. It has been quite easy so far. I’m enjoying the app, which even comes with a barcode scanner that tells you the point values of a food product. All of the leaner, healthier foods are 0 points (fruits, vegetables, chicken and fish) and there is literally nothing I can’t eat, if I want to. Which makes the program very easy to stick to. Forgot lunch and need to pick up something through the drive-thru? No problem. Want a glass of wine? No problem. Want popcorn and M&Ms to munch on while attending a screening of Bohemian Rhapsody? No problem.

Obviously I need to be making healthier choices on the regular, but it’s nice to know I can do these other things occasionally (and I have) as well, and still be achieving success in working towards my health goals. Because nothing gets my inner rebel activated faster than telling me I CAN’T do something. 😉

I’d like to need to lose more weight in order to be my healthiest, but for now I am just taking it day by day, week by week, month by month. I’m on a learning journey, I have decided. I haven’t set a goal weight yet – although at my last appointment my doc very kindly and without prompting gave me a note stating what SHE thinks is my healthy weight range – she must have run into the same problems with WW, at some point!  I’m prepared to unpack any psychological hurdles that come up as I continue on this path. I’m journalling as these things come up.

For fitness, I am exercising every day via YouTube videos (mostly JessicaSmithTV), walking, and hiking.

And best of all, I’m having fun doing all of these things. There is no hardship involved, this time. Not at least so far. 🙂

Rock on,

The WB

 

 

 

2018 Intentions – Summer Solstice Update

Celebrating the solstice with a new candle. The scent is appropriate for the first day of summer!

More and more lately I find I am aligning myself towards the natural world, and the changing seasons. I take great pleasure in and greet with wonder this marvelous planet I reside on, daily. And at regularly occurring natural events like solstices and equinoxes, I like to pause for a moment and take stock of where I am with respect to what I am trying to achieve for myself – my intentions.

It just feels right to me to do things this way, rather than according to a date on a typical paper or digital calendar. This centres me and reminds me of what is truly real, and what are only human constructs.

The world continues to turn; the planet makes regular revolutions around the sun – where am I with my turning in my journey around my life?

I first wrote about my goals for 2018 here, at Yuletide. I updated my progress at the Spring Equinox here.

And here is my assessment of where I am at now, and what has changed in the past 3 months.

Blogging – still managing to blog at least once per week. Hoorah for me! It has been a bit of a struggle, and more so now that the weather is finally hospitable and I am trying to be outdoors as much as possible. There was a good reason my blog went silent almost every summer and fall in years past. I have not yet perfected the art of outdoor blogging (although I managed pretty well in Barbados, I must admit).

Reading – as predicted, I blew past my GoodReads goal of 50 books this year easily a few weeks ago. GoodReads tells me I am 36 books ahead of schedule at 59/50 books read. Next year, I have to at least double this way-too modest goal. Clearly.

Mindfulness – I have been doing a lot of what I call micro-meditations. That is, multiple daily pausings to draw my attention to the present moment and savour it.  But not so much butt on the zafu as I was hoping. Still, I am pleased that I am practicing mindfulness on a daily basis.

Financial Security – oooh, doggie! There has been a lot of change in this area. In April, I made a life-changing decision that I can’t really talk about on ye old blogge yet, but it is one that is good for me and I am very happy about it. All will be revealed eventually but unfortunately not any time soon. This has necessitated a change in my financial goals for this year. I have stopped paying down extra on my rental business demand loan for the time being. I am finally heeding my accountant’s advice to not be in such a hurry to pay this down as this debt is very good for my tax situation, and my 2017 tax refund proved him right once again. So I am focusing on optimizing my future monthly cash flow by working on my line of credit instead. I used this credit line for last summer’s renovation – and I locked it in at a much lower interest rate so it was not a priority for paying off ahead of schedule. But not anymore ‘cos Mama’s got a brand new plan.

Intuitive Processes – I am getting better at listening to that still, small voice. My heart voice. The one I usually ignore in favour of my head voice. Using the Tarot is helping. A lot.

The question was money-related, about the future. The cards tell me to size up the situation, get to the point and be completely honest; that I will be able to make my dreams real; and that I am resisting change that is truly needed. Yup, I was.

Health – I have stopped trying to diet, and more importantly, fretting about the need to diet. I eat what I please, when I’m hungry. And guess what, my weight is still about the same – I might even be down a pound or two. But now I truly enjoy my food and I have more time and mental energy to think about fun stuff instead of feeling bad over what I am shoving down my pie hole (or not). So, hoorah for intuitive eating! Although I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I am tempted to go back to restrictive eating whenever I read a “success story”. Then I remember that those successes are just snapshots in time, and a year from now that person will likely have put all the weight back on (and more). I’ve seen it happen to people I know over and over again. Hell, I’m one of them!

I’ve also been very consistent on making sure I move my body – achieving over 10,000 steps almost every day for the past 2 months. My energy levels are nice and high, as a result. And my stamina has improved as well. I keep meaning to add a regular weight lifting routine to my week but haven’t yet made a habit of this. So that is an area that needs my attention during this next quarter.

Speaking of enjoying my food: getting ready to munch on a lovely “zakje patat” (sack of fries) with mayonnaise (Dutch street food) for din-dins after earning another medal for walking 5 km per night for 4 nights at the 4-Day/Evening Walk event, in Dundas. (I couldn’t finish it and chucked the bottom quarter in the waste receptacle. I was out of mayo by that point anyway  😉 .)

7 years of completing this annual event. Unfortunately this was the last year this event will be held.

Art – I’ve been roughing out a bunch of ideas in my notebook but not doing a lot on canvas. This weekend is supposed to be kinda rainy so I’m planning on painting. I got my weekly blog post done early so as to free up time for this. Wish me luck!

What about you? How are you doing with respect to your intentions (if you made any) for 2018, at this half-way point in the year?

Rock on,

The WB

R is for Road Trippin’ #AtoZChallenge

In the summer, I like to hit the road. Whether for a few hours, a day, or a weekend – the long, temperate days and good driving conditions make it a joy to range further afield.

I have plans for taking much longer road trips, once I am retired. I wrote about that here (during last year’s A-Z Challenge), and also here.

I am still thinking about this almost daily and flip-flopping between a trailer to pull behind me or a small RV (when I am not calculating how many nights’ stay in motel rooms would come close to the cost of either of these options – even second-hand). 😉

I am fortunate that my home is zoned commercial/residential, which means I can park a trailer or RV year-round on my property, even though I am in town – I checked with the by-law officer a few years ago.

My fantasy rig has me road tripping in full-on glamping style:

Like this.

Or this.

And the exterior looks something like this, on my fantasy trailer.

And then there’s the fantasy RV.

Fantasy RV interior.

So far my pros and cons list for each type looks something like this:

Small trailer Pros

  • Roomier
  • Can leave at campsite while using vehicle to explore surrounding area
  • Better for extended stays somewhere

Small trailer Cons

  • Have to learn to tow
  • Entering/leaving my driveway will be difficult (incline, and on busy street)
  • Need bigger vehicle than I currently own, in order to tow even the tiniest trailer

Camping Van Pros

  • Can fit in regular parking space
  • Easier to drive and manoeuvre
  • Better for trips in which only planning to stay 1-2 nights max in each place
  • Can rent one to try out before I buy

Camping Van Cons

  • Now I have to own and maintain 2 motor vehicles
  • Have to pack up the campsite every time I need to go to town or do some local exploring
  • Less space to move around in

I’m currently leaning towards the camping van, as I envision my first few years of road trips will be more driving around than staying in one place. Perhaps I could pack a bike or an electric scooter, for local exploring.

No matter what I decide upon, once I am retired I can chase summer year-round….Canadian road-tripping in the summer, and heading south of the border in the winter.

What about you? Is road-tripping your thing too? Any thoughts or advice to share? What would you choose – a trailer or an RV?

Rock on,

The WB

Can you guess my theme for this year’s A-Z Challenge? All of my A-Z posts this month will be tied into my theme, which is represented by the title of a song that was popular when I was a child. Can you figure it out as the days (and posts) go by? Leave your guesses (one per day only, please) in the comments. At the end of the challenge, I will reveal the theme. Have fun!

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

2018 Intentions – Spring Equinox Update

Yesterday being the first day of Spring, I took stock of where I was at with respect to the intentions I set at the Winter Solstice. Seemed like an appropriate date, after all.

This is where I initially put them, on Ye Olde Blogge: here

So here is where I am at,  as of this week:

  • Blogging – 100% at posting at least once per week (Yay!). I am having slow but steady success at connecting with other like-minded bloggers/readers, which suits an introvert like me just fine. Quality over quantity, I say.

 

  • Reading – Thanks in no small part to 2 glorious weeks reading on the beach in Barbados (A book a day, people. A. Book. A. Day.), I am already at 30 books. My goal for this year is 50 books. Should be a slam-dunk. (I’m WidowBadass on GoodReads, in case you want to connect there.)

reading on the beach
Looking up from my day’s book. This year I burned through Canadian mystery author Louise Penny’s series on Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Recommended.

 

  • Mindfulness – I’m not meditating as much as I think I should be/could be doing. Since my winter holiday, I have fallen off the daily meditation wagon. This will be corrected!

 

  • Financial Security – I have a goal for this year to pay down an additional 10% of my humongous demand loan, on top of my regularly scheduled payments towards it. As of this week, I am 27% of the way towards that 10% number! Which is right on track for this quarter – even a tick ahead! How am I achieving this money mastery, you may be asking? Well, let me tell ya! By logging all of my discretionary spending (to gain awareness and accountability), and by the old cowboy trick of doubling my money by folding it in half and sticking it back into my pocket instead of spending it. Oh ho ho. Also I gave up cable (I don’t watch enough TV to make it worthwhile) and I no longer go to the salon twice a month to get my (once acrylic) nails done. Yep. I am au naturel – a veritable woodland goddess. And I’m back to scrutinizing grocery store purchases instead of throwing whatever takes my fancy (looking at you, cherries in winter at $9.99 per pound!) into my cart. And I’m brown-bagging it almost daily. Like in the bad old days. Little savings that really add up. Every payday I go to the bank and make a lump sum payment on the demand loan – and that, my friends, is satisfying beyond belief because it goes directly against the principal.

 

  • Intuitive Processes – become proficient at Tarot. Like Mindfulness, I’ve let this go a bit since coming back from Barbados. I was working with the cards daily but then I stopped and can’t figure out why. Something else to improve upon.

 

  • Health – Oh boy, I have been doing a lot of thinking about this one. Also plenty of moving around (Yay!). I exceeded 10K steps most days despite all that laying around like a beer drinking slug reading I did in Barbados. My blogger friend Karen, of Profound Journey, made an excellent post about Intuitive Eating a few weeks back. I remembered that I used to own a copy of that book when it first came out. Since dieting has not worked for me (*cough*anybody*cough*), and I’ve been exemplifying the definition of insanity for many years, by doing the same thing – dieting – over and over again, and expecting a different result, I was moved to repurchase this book AND the workbook. I’m working through the exercises in the book and allowing my body to tell me what to eat and when to eat it. I can’t fail at this any worse than I have failed at dieting, I figure.

Elevenses
My body has been telling me I want this. I’ve rekindled a long-lost love for “elevenses” – specifically, hot milky tea (or coffee) with a couple of these (OK, OK…sometimes four) biscuits. Damn fine, I say. Which carbs-watching, grains-scoffing, dieting me would never have allowed myself to have. At least not without a shit-ton of guilt.

I’m also still doing the mindful yoga and the Jessica Smith YouTube videos. I’ve recently added her workouts with free weights and also some balance work. This may sound a bit strange, but I’ve always loved working out with weights. And like most things I enjoy, I rarely make time for them.  WTF? Why??? See also meditation, and tarot, and…

 

  • Art – I have to mark myself as “needs improvement” for this intention, too. I even brought a small sketchbook and pencil with me to Barbados but never so much as doodled the whole 2 weeks I was on vacation. See “A. Book. A. Day.”, above.

So there it is. I’ve taken my inventory and given myself good marks for blogging, reading, financial security and physical activity. I need to step it up with respect to mindfulness, tarot and art.  Health is a mixed bag. Good marks for exercising. Still weigh the same as I did at the Winter Solstice.

Next check-in: Summer Solstice.

Rock on,

The WB

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave