30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 14, 15, 16

I'm behind again in posting! Fortunately, I've been writing down my daily gratitude in my diary, so I didn't really miss a day ;)


Day 14 - I am thankful for laughter. It can hold depression at bay. It can chase away anger or tears. It can heal.

What else can it do?

- Lower blood pressure
- Reduce some stress hormones, such as cortisol
- Improve alertness, memory, and creativity
- Increase the response of tumor- and disease-killing cells such as Gamma-interferon and T-cells
- Helps the pituitary gland release its own pain-suppressing opiates.
- Eases anxiety and fear

So yeah, laughter is wonderful. Our house is full of it and it's an integral part of our sunny atmosphere, part of what makes each of us so glad to get home after a long day. Trevor is a goof and will do or say something or pull some crazy facial expression that can get me rolling around in hapless giggles until my eyes are streaming. I am so thankful for that.


Day 15 - I am thankful for grey, rainy days.

Yes, really!

Nothing boosts my creativity and cozy level more than a dark day or evening with rain gently tapping on the windows. I'm more inclined to make a heartier dinner. I feel my writer's block and artist's block vanish. I can concentrate on a good book while drinking hot tea or coffee. Yep, I just feel so good and happy! I can't explain it, but hey, I'm not complaining!



Day 16 - I am thankful for bird song.

Now that we're in the middle of November, I don't hear much bird song anymore. It's usually silence, unless a cold breeze is whispering through naked branches, or if it's a sunny afternoon and a flock of little brown birds have gathered to chatter. But in spring and early summer? It's a sweet symphony that makes my heart soar and brings peace to my soul.

To me, there's hardly anything that sounds more beautiful in this world than robins singing on a spring evening, or a loon's mournful cry on a lake. These sounds are ancient and sacred, and I am thankful to be able to hear them.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 12 and 13

Day 12 - I am thankful for my creativity. I crochet, sculpt with polymer clay, write, draw, digital scrapbook, make beaded jewellery, and I'm just getting into knitting, sewing, and making little plush things out of felt. I'm beginning to integrate recycling and upcycling into my projects, too.

I've been artistic and creative ever since I can remember. I've never NOT been crafty! My mind is perpetually spinning with ideas, stories, and plans, so getting them out is not only a relief, but a tangible reward! And being creative has always been an escape for me. From life, from depression, from bad times, from myself.

It's a blessing and I can't imagine not being creative, because it's part of who I am.

*See my art here*

*See my ever-growing crochet and knitting projects here*


Day 13 - I am thankful for journals and diaries. Any blank notebook will do. Softcover, hardcover, covers made of raw silk, pretty paper, or leather. Lined or unlined, recycled cotton paper or regular. All of these books have been blank canvases for me, ready for me to spill my soul into. They are healing tools, discovering tools, creative tools and spiritual tools.

I first kept a diary when I was eight years old. It was a little lock-and-key diary, pastel blue in colour, with a fluffy tabby kitten on the cover and gilt page edges. At the age of 11, I used a Lisa Frank 3-ring binder with unicorns on the cover, later switching to a little red notebook where I would draw the daily weather and write about what was on my mind at the moment.

Unfortunately, I tossed those diaries during our move from Kentucky to Virginia in 1996, when I was 12.

In 1998, I started keeping a journal again, and this time I didn't stop. Nor did I toss any of them! I began with composition books and then moved to hardcover. I even did a scrapbook layout about them!


With the exception of a few that didn't make it into the pic, these are all my journals from 1998 to 2010. There have been two more since then!

These journals are full of dreams, realizations, memories, happiness, angst, fury, despair, fear, confusion, sadness, lists, weather, prayer, love, and discovering what mental illness was and how I fit into that category. My journaling slowed down as I began to blog more frequently, but some things are just better left unsaid in a public place, and so it's back to the journals I go, running my pen over their welcoming, awaiting pages.

Ardene Surprise Bags!

This is just a short post for now, lovelies, but I haven't been able to do a Surprise Bag post in a long time and I love to show off their contents!

Ardene stores have a bin that contain small blue surprise bags, full of jewellery and hair accessories, for $5 for two bags. In an adjacent bin, they have big pink bags full of clothing accessories, two for $8. I decided to get two of the pink bags since I hadn't in so long!

BAG 1

1 scarf
1 winter toque (this is too small for my huge head, so I'm going to donate it to the next Really Really Free Market day)
1 pair of super-soft, thin fleece gloves - Black. These are surprisingly warm!
1 pair of sunglasses - Floral print
2 pairs of socks



BAG 2

1 scarf
1 winter toque
1 pair of super-soft, thin fleece mittens that are SERIOUSLY cozy!
1 pair of sunglasses - Bright yellow-green
2 pairs of socks

Ardene and Claire's both cater to teen girls, but I love them both and always manage to find really cute and stylish things there. Ardene's Surprise Bags are just one of many deals that keep me coming back for more. They usually have scarves 2 or 3 for $15, cute flats and heels 2 for $20, jewellery and hair stuff 3 or 5 for $10, socks 3 for $10... the list goes on!

I also got three pairs of knee socks to wear with my fall boots:


The grey pair is my favourite and you can see me wearing them here:

I need to start posting outfits wearing all these cute things! :)

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 11

Today I am thankful for all the adventures we've had with our friend Jeff this summer and fall.

We've been so busy, which has been wonderful! I've seen and been to places I've never gone before. I've seen more of Ontario. I've seen more of my shining Toronto. I've been to lots of flea markets, hidden gems in downtown Toronto, fun rib fests, and more. I've been distracted when Trevor was out of work and I was in my deepest stage of depression yet.

And I've got some awesome memories of an amazing couple of seasons.

Here are some highlights!


Ancaster Fall Fair, October


Cheltenham Badlands, October


Toronto from the Centre Island ferry, July


Centre Island, July


St. Lawrence Market, June


St. Jacob's, June


Georgian Bay on the Bruce Peninsula, August


Tobermory, August


Dorcas Bay's shallow waters into Lake Huron, August


Glen Williams Canada Day Parade, July


Big on Bloor, July



Scarborough Bluffs, August


Niagara Falls, October

30 Days of Thanksvember - Days 9 and 10

I can't believe I forgot to post yesterday! For someone who is thankful every day, I am a bit of a scatterbrain ;)



Day 9:
I am thankful for nature and all the energies that flow through her. I never feel so serene, so grounded and secure as when I'm in nature. Noble trees standing sentry, ever-changing winds, the different beautiful aspects of all four seasons, the feel and sound of water, the calls of birds and insects and the tawny flash of deer bounding between forest shadows. It's nothing short of perfection, even though we humans keep on destroying it bit by bit.

When I'm in the city, the energy that flows is all human. Congested, tumbled, confusing, even hostile. In nature, the energy is smooth, straight-forward, and completely unhindered. When I need to feel cleansed, connected, and rejuvenated, I know where to go. Sometimes I sit on the warm earth, letting it draw negative energy out of me and ground me, and sometimes I sit in the shores of a lake (or the ocean, but I haven't been to the ocean in eight years).

I'm glad to live in an area that has many parks, forests, and lakes. I love having the city in one hand and nature in the other. Without nature, I feel disconnected, uninspired, and lost.














Day 10:
I am thankful for coffee!

Lattes, iced coffees, and wonderful hot double doubles from Tim Horton's. White chocolate mochas, pumpkin spice lattes, and peppermint mochas. Steaming coffee from our machine at home, complete with a liquid creamer of choice.

Sipping it from my pink travel coffee cup while on the go. Drinking it at a table with a good book or a friend. Waking up in the morning and getting it into my system.

Yes, coffee is truly wonderful. Not only does it give me energy, it's also very comforting! I am very thankful for its existence.

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 8

Today's post of gratitude may seem silly, but it is truly something I am thankful for.

I am thankful for the internet.

When I lived in Virginia and was so isolated, the internet was my only window to the outside world. It has been a vast realm of knowledge for me, lessons taught both good and bad. I have made wonderful friends from around the world. One of my best friends lives in England and we have never met in person.

Over the years...

I have joined fabulous communities and have made friends everywhere I've gone. Many of those people I am still friends with, and I am making new friends all the time.

I have participated in swaps and trades and have gotten such awesome stuff!

I've entered contests and won giveaways.

I have learned new skills. Digital scrapbooking, crochet, and knitting I probably would have never learned if it weren't for the amazing Digital Scrapbook Place and Youtube. And the internet is an endless resource for patterns, digital scrapbook kits, etc!

The internet is where I met my best friends...

And my husband.

And dang it, I really like being able to shop and pay bills online!

So yes, I am incredibly thankful for the internet. :)

30 Days of Thanksvember - Day 7

Today I am thankful for all the felines in my life, whether they are past friends, current furbabies, or the sweet fosters we love until forever homes are found for them.

We've been fostering kittens since early 2008. We've had so many wonderful furbabies pass through our house, and all of them have gone on to forever homes after growing in a house full of love, nurturing, and play. Our permanent brood consists of five: Spike, Teddy, Ash, Weebles, and Zeddy. They are all foster failures, meaning that we couldn't resist them and adopted them! :) Spike and Teddy are brothers, and Ash and Zeddy are also related. They all bring us laughter, relief from sadness, and unconditional affection.


My baby, Spike. He likes to knead my flesh and burp quite loudly.


Teddy


Ash. His story was that he was found to have an end-stage heart murmur and was not expected to live, so he was unadoptable. We were told to keep him comfortable and happy until he died. Well, four years later and his heart murmur is undetectable and he's a very healthy adult!


Zeddy. This quiet, sweet fellow kind of walked right in from outside and claimed us as his own. We named him after our dear old Zed, a black cat who passed away from renal failure a couple months earlier.


Our only girl, Weebles, who was born with a mild case of cerebellar hypoplasia.




Teddy, Weebles, Zeddy, and Spike piled up on our bed! This is why I can never get the darn thing made in the morning!



Zeddy and Ash (right) pictured with three of our fosters from 2011. All cats in this photo are related. We had a feral female around the neighbourhood who was birthing all these guys, and we FINALLY trapped, spayed, and released her this year :) She still comes to our house for food twice a day.


2012 foster Bunny taking a snooze.



2011 foster, Bazinga, playing with the Christmas tree. She was another child from the feral mother I mentioned above.


Colleen, our first bottle baby and beloved by all corners of the rescue community. She was very dear to our hearts and we still miss her, but she's having a great life with Bazinga and a very doting "mom"! :)


Sinatra, one of our two current fosters and a bottle-fed kitten :)


Here are two of my beloved kitties back in Virginia. The black one is Minerva and the orange was Ginny. Sadly, Ginny passed away in 2006, and after I came back to Canada, my mom's health rapidly declined and she could no longer take care of the cats, so they were adopted out to loving homes.



And because I mentioned him, here is our dear Zed, who passed away in November 2010.


I could go on all night, sharing pictures and stories, but I wouldn't want to slow your computers down! LOL

I am so thankful for these furry creatures. I have had at least one cat in my life since I can remember, and I want it to stay that way forever.