1000 Words

picture provided by Cristina During the second week of school Hannah had written in her agenda “Ask me what a growth mindset is” so I did but in true Hannah fashion (and I am, sure many other 8 year-olds) her response was “I don’t remember”. The good parent that I am (insert sarcastic tone), I asked her teacher if she wouldn’t mind explaining it again; of course, she forgot again. I haven’t heard of the term before, but it sounded important so I was going to research it so we could talk about it as a family. That weekend I was running the Tough Mudder  with  my friend for the third time, so I didn’t get a chance to learn about it – but it was on my agenda for the following week. Saturday morning Chris and I headed to  Christie Lake  and Eric, Cristina and the girls followed soon after. We were ready, I amped myself up all week – I was NOT going to freak out during the arctic enema – this was going to be my year.  (more on the Tough Mudder in my next post) ...

Last night while we were watching the Taco Chronicles on Netflix I actually missed a few minutes of the show because I drifted off thinking about tacos. I absolutely LOVE tacos; they are my favourite food group. Then later while I was about to fall asleep I realized I didn’t mention my love for tacos in my previous post   so now I will devote a full 1000 words to tacos. Tacos can be filled with a plethora of ingredients which make them the perfect option for anyone’s tastes. Fish tacos are one of my top 3 fillings but because I am gluten free, not celiac, it is rare that I find a fish taco I can have at a restaurant, until we moved to Hamilton. The first time I had a fish taco at a restaurant was at The Mule , I cannot express how delicious it was; every time we go I order at least one. The other place I have had a fish taco was at Merk , now these fish tacos were unbelievably delicious; I remember the utter happiness my taste buds we experiencing; I am drooling right now...

I was inspired, and I am not sure inspired is the right word - I was encouraged by a friend to just write, take time for me, invest in myself, do something that is just for me, do something that I enjoy and possibly something that I am good at. So here I go.  That was the first paragraph that I wrote a few months ago, I wrote more but then I decided to scrap it and go in a different direction, mainly because I didn’t have a real direction. My first entry was supposed to be this one but the one I wrote was more important and therapeutic for me. My plan was to write more often but then summer happened but now that school is back in, I am going to try to set aside more time for writing. Scratch that – I AM going to set aside more time for writing. I didn’t have a theme or idea of what or how I was going to write, similar to how I go about life, I was just going to wing it and hope for the best but then I had a brilliant idea  - they say a picture is worth 1000 words;...

In Memory of Barb Janicek On Saturday July 13, 2019 I was out with my husband enjoying a beer and pizza when I received a message that a childhood friend of mine had passed away. In the moment I was shocked and dumbfounded but today, Thursday July 18, 2019, was the day it hit me, and it hit me harder than I ever thought it would. It started with a group chat notification on my phone “Oh that sounds like such a wonderful and beautiful tribute to Barb” (cue uncontrollable sobbing) Why was I crying? Why is Barb’s death affecting me like this? Why now? Why? As I sat drinking my coffee this morning, I started thinking about all the whys.  Barb was genuinely a nice person. After someone passes away you often hear people talk about how kind, caring and thoughtful they were or how their smile lit up a room but is it true or is it just lip service? Well in Barb’s case it is true; she possessed all those qualities and many more. Over the years I haven’t had much contact with...