A Day of Reading and Quiet Reflection

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..my road to recovery has been painless

After icing my jaw all day long yesterday I was happy not to have to do that today. There was little to no swelling this morning so I guess the ice paid off. I started the morning with a delicious peach mango smoothie that my husband made for me and for lunch I had some creamed soup and leftover mashed cauliflower with an egg mixed in for some protein. Both meals were somewhat satisfying and I wasn’t as hungry today as I was yesterday.

One of the benefits of staying home and having restrictions as to what I’m allowed to do is that I was able to get a lot of reading done. I’m all caught up with my emails and I’ve finally started a new book, Road Ends, by Mary Lawson which I’m about a third of the way into. I’ve also been able to research some great art sites for ideas for upcoming art classes at school.

We also got some good news today. My husband went for his quarterly check-up at the hospital this morning and his blood count is still in the normal range. It’s always a little stressful for my husband on those days coming up to his appointments.

Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge – Pleasure

Knowing that we don’t have to worry about the return of my husband’s cancer for at least another three to six months brings us both a great deal of pleasure.

Pleasure is Nature’s test, her sign of approval. When man is happy, he is in harmony with himself and with his environment…..Oscar Wilde

As we get older we appreciate the simpler things in life. Here are a few things that give us pleasure:

Tonights dinner. Yum!

My sister with ‘my three girls’.

For more quotes and photographs about pleasure check out Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge.

Sitting With an Ice Cube Against My Jaw

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..recovering from dental gum surgery

Technically I’m not suppose to be doing this. The instruction sheet following periodontal surgery specifically says “NO TEXTING, FACEBOOK, VIDEO GAMES, 1ST 24 HOURS. “USE THE ICE”.” I have to admit that it is difficult to type while balancing a baggy of ice on your jawline but I only have to keep the ice on for 5 minutes and then off for 5 minutes. It’s time to take a break from typing and continue Icing. Back in five.

I’m back. The whole procedure today went very smoothly. There is so much freezing that I didn’t even feel the needles go in. My doctor never stopped talking for a minute. He told me jokes, and riddles, and talked about the latest scandal with Rob Ford, Gwenyth Paltrow’s lastest break-up, his wish to go scuba diving in Mexico, going to the movies with his wife and in between giving instructions to his assistant and explaining in detail what he was doing to me. The entire procedure took just over an hour.

Riddle #1: Mary’s mother had 4 daughters. She named them April, May, June and ….. What was the 4th daughter’s name?

I’ve been icing my jaw again and this time I reread some of the instructions. Apparently I have to avoid talking for 24 hours. I wonder if that’s why my husband is taking his time getting back with my meds. Luckily I’m not in any pain yet but I do have to start taking the antibiotics soon. The only thing I can eat for the first 24 hours is broth or smooth soups (no bits of meat or vegetables) and I’m really starting to get hungry.

A few other DO NOTS are:

Do not rinse for 24 hours
Do not brush teeth for 3 days
Do not use straws for 7 days
Do not drink alcohol for 24 hours
Do not exercise for 5 to 7 days
Do not sleep with your head down

Some Do Nots that I like are:

Do not do any housework
Do not do any heavy lifting

and some Dos

stretch out on the couch
let your husband pamper you (I made that one up)

Well I think I’ll go and put my feet up and hopefully my husband will arrive shortly.

Answer to the riddle: The fourth daughter’s name is Mary.

Goals Met

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….after two years I’ve met and surpassed most of my blogging goals

Back in February (here) I wrote that I had already met many of my blogging goals before the anniversary of my second year. I reset some of my goals and set my target date to be April 30th. Well today is the day and I’m happy to report that I’ve met most of my goals and surpassed some of them again.

Here are my original goals and where I stood in February and where I stand now.

200 views for one day (currently sitting at 159) I reached 303 views on June 7th – I’ve reached 360 views for one day

600 followers one year from today I reached 600 followers 10 weeks early – I’m now over 675 followers

30 000 views one year from today I am 5500 views away from this goal – That would be 550 views a week, 79 views a day – right now I average about 50 views a day- this is the only goal I didn’t reach – I’m sitting at 27 500 views

300 new posts in the next year I’m at 262 so I have 38 posts to go – that’s 3.8 posts a week….very doable. My magic number will be 614 posts in total. – this is my 650th post

Again none of this would be possible without the support of my loyal followers. When I started this journey two years ago I had no idea how long I would do this. Now I don’t see myself stopping. I love writing, taking photographs, setting goals and participating in new challenges. I’ve enjoyed reading blogs from all around the world and I take great pleasure reading your comments.

Share Your World 2014 – Week 17

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I don’t know about that monkey question

What are some words that just make you smile?

Words that make me smile? From my students….”I love art class”, from my kids “thanks, Mom”, from my husband “Wine?” and from my friends “Let’s get together”.

The Birthday girl with her husband

My oldest daughter A and her partner J.

Teaching Art

When you lose electricity in a storm, do you light the candles or turn on the flashlight? How many of each do you own?

We own dozens of candles and a couple of flashlights. We only use the flashlight to find the candles and lighter. We love candle light and light candles often, especially when we’re enjoying a special romantic dinner.

What is the longest book you ever read?

I think the longest book I’ve ever read was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It contains 870 pages.

Image courtesy of: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/70/Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix.jpg

So you win a pet monkey at a fair, but this isn’t just any old monkey. It can do one trick for you whenever you want from getting a pop out of the fridge to washing your hair. What would be the trick?

I don’t know about winning a monkey. I don’t think there’s anything that a monkey could do that would make me want to own one, never mind washing my hair. Yikes! The thought gives me the creeps.

Ikea monkey. Photo courtesy of:http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pZ80Zpi7N-E/hqdefault.jpg

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for the sunny weekend and getting out for a long walk with the dogs on Sunday. I’m looking forward to a quick recovery after my oral surgery on Thursday.

For more Share Your World entries check out http://ceenphotography.com/2014/04/28/share-your-world-2014-week-17-2/

Share Your World 2014 – Week 16

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….it’s almost scary how quickly these challenges come up

How many places have you lived? You can share the number of physical residences and/or the number of cities.

• born in Frankfurt, Germany

Garmisch, Germany

• lived in Garmisch, Germany for about a year

• moved to Canada when I was 20 months old

• lived in Toronto until I was 5

• moved to Oakville when I was 6

• moved back to Toronto when I was 10 and have stayed here ever since

• for 4 years I went to school in Guelph but I always came home in the summer

Photo courtesy of : http://compsci.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/university_guelph_campus.jpg

• after I got married my husband and I moved three times – for one year we lived in uptown Toronto, then moved to the High Park area and lived there for two years and finally we bought our house down by the lake in the west end of the city – we’ve lived in the same house for 35 years

What type of music relaxes you the most?

Most music relaxes me. When I was at the concert last week, even the music by Shostakovich put me to sleep. Music that doesn’t relax me is punk, heavy metal, rap, goth and grunge.

If you could instantly become fluent in another language, what would that language be and why?

I think I would pick French. I’m surrounded by it every day at school and just once I’d like to surprise everyone by answering back in perfect French. All my children went to French Immersion school and I’ve taught in two French Immersion schools but on the English side for more than 25 years. I just assumed that I would pick it up by osmosis but sadly that didn’t happen.

If you could fly or breathe under water what would you prefer?

I would prefer to fly. There are too many predators under water and I think It would be safer in the sky.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that the snow has finally all melted away and that the garden is starting to show signs of spring. This week I’m looking forward to a short week at work (we had today off) and spending time with my friends on the weekend.

For more Share Your World posts check out Cee’s Photography.

A Good Friday at the Farm

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..visiting my sister and brother-in-law

After checking into the hotel in Chatham, my husband and I drove to the farm. My brother-in-law was excited about showing off his new ‘man cave’. We were greeted by numerous cats, barking dogs and one sheep and the cows that were in the enclosed pen outside the barn. A few seconds later my sister stepped out of the barn and D approached us from the opposite side of the property.

The new ‘man cave’ isn’t finished inside but the structure is up and the water and electricity are hooked up and working. We listened to the plans as to how the space will be used and D hopes that he can have his ‘man cave warming party’ in the fall.

It was a warm, beautiful day so I decided to take a few pictures of the livestock in the yard. When we go back tomorrow we will check out the sheep and horses in the new barn. My sister’s place is a photographer’s delight….lots of old farm equipment, weathered knick knacks and yard ornaments and of course animals.

April 15, 2014 – This is What I Woke Up To

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..yikes, I wasn’t kidding yesterday

….and it will continue to snow all morning. Sigh!

Share Your World – Week 15

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..I can’t believe it’s already week 15

For your blog do you basically use Windows or Mac, laptop, desktop, pad, or phone?

I’m an Apple user all the way. For my blog I work on my MacBook Pro…

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a very young child I remember wanting to be a nurse but when I was 12, I changed my mind and wanted to be a Family Studies teacher. I was asked to attend an open house at the school and demonstrate how we were using the sewing machines in class. I was hooked. In high school I toyed with the idea of being a doctor but I kept going back to being a teacher.

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?

For most of my childhood I grew up in Toronto. We lived in Oakville for about four years but we moved back to the big city to be closer to my father’s job. I have fond memories of living in Oakville because it was like living in the country at the time. Our house backed onto a field with a creek running through it. We lived in a new housing development and I recall playing in some of the unfinished homes. Pretty crazy when I think of the dangers we encountered daily. We were also allowed to go to the creek without adult supervision and we rode our bicycles through the field and onto busy streets on our way to the plaza. I had one nasty spill onto the gravel road and still have the scars on my knee to this day.

When we moved back to Toronto I was 10 years old and we lived directly across from the school. There was a huge park that surrounded the school and right across the street from us was a skating rink in the winter and a tennis court in the summer. A few years later they also built a public outdoor swimming pool right next to the rink. We lived in an apartment building but I was so close to so many recreational amenities that I never missed not having a backyard. In the summers we went to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) and as I went from being a pre-teen to a teenager I started taking the subway to the downtown area. Basically, I loved living in the city.

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

I always think of myself as younger. I work with a wide range of ages but I guess I’m now the oldest person at my school. Our caretaker might be a bit older than me but not by much. If I had to put an age to myself I’d say I feel like I’m only 45. I actually feel better now than when I turned 50.

On my 61st birthday.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful for the the warmer weather we experienced last week and for all the snow melting. Unfortunately we’re suppose to get colder temperatures tonight and tomorrow morning we’re expecting 5 to 10 cm of snow. Yikes!

Later this week I’m looking forward to visiting my sister in Chatham. My new brother-in-law really wants to see my husband who was unable to attend their wedding in January because of his fall. On Monday we’re spending Easter Monday at my daughter’s (A and J) place and will be enjoying a delicious Easter brunch.

Visiting my sister and my brother-in-law, D to check out his new ‘man cave’.

For more Share Your World contributions check out Cee’s Photography.

A Productive Day and a Movie Review

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….didn’t finish everything on my to do list but actually did more than I planned to do, including watching a very bad movie

It was a perfect day, yesterday, for working in the garden. I raked the front and the back yard and bagged a lot of yard waste. I know that I said I would report back later in the day but I think I overdid it because I couldn’t keep my eyes open later in the evening. Here’s what I accomplished in one day:

I did actually put some fertilizer down over my bulbs. I think I called it bone meal yesterday but in actual fact it’s chicken poop. It’s suppose to keep the squirrels from digging up the bulbs. As soon as the snow melted away last week I noticed that something started digging in the garden so I had to take action quickly before the hundred bulbs I planted last fall are completely destroyed.

I also took down the Christmas lights on the Yew in front of the house. As I was doing that I decided that it needed a good trim so I got out the ladder and proceeded to give it a ‘hair cut’. This was not on my to do list.

As you can see from the photos, new growth is just starting to come up from the ground. Now you can see why I’m so envious of all those beautiful photographs of blossoms and spring flowers that the rest of the world seems to be enjoying. It really has been a long winter.

I also did about four loads of laundry, vacuumed the main floor of the house, dusted in the living room and I did take out some of the garden furniture. I didn’t want to push it because I was afraid I was going jinx this beautiful weather we’re having. As it is the weatherman has forecast snow for this Tuesday and I also put away the snow shovels. Well, I actually left one out just in case.

I also cleaned the oven, wrote one post (started this one) and took a few photographs.

I didn’t get to the bird cage and I didn’t put away my winter clothes and take out the summer clothes. I think the latter project is a little premature anyway, seeing that we’re in for a few more days if not weeks of cool weather.

Later in the afternoon my husband and I decided to treat ourselves and go and see a movie at the theatre. Usually I check reviews before deciding on a movie but for some reason I didn’t do that this time. Big mistake.

We went to see, Noah. It had some very good actors in it (Russell Crowe, Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson) and it was directed by the same director who did the Black Swan. How could we go wrong?

It was bad. This interpretation of the biblical story of Noah is so out there that it was barely recognizable. The only things that made it recognizable were the ark and the animals pairs (all computer animated by the way). It was a disaster movie with rock creatures called the Watchers. For a better review of this movie go to my favourite movie blog and see what Movie Joltz has to say. I usually go here before I decide on a movie. After watching Noah, my husband’s comment was, “Well, that’s three hours I’ll never get back.”

A Beautiful Saturday – Why am I Creating a To Do List?

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….am I crazy or just practical?

I suspect I’m doing this because it needs to be done

To Do List for April 12, 2014

rake front lawn
sprinkle bone meal on garden
take out garden furniture
clean out bird cage
do laundry – started
take out summer clothes and put away winter clothes
clean oven – started
write post – started
go for a walk
dust living room floor and shelves – floors done
vacuum carpets upstairs and down – started
take photographs

As you can see I’ve already started some of these chores. I think I need to fill the gaps with some fun stuff.

My husband must be feeling my energy this morning because he’s started raking the back yard and he’s taken out our bikes and cleaned them off. Maybe we can get out for a ride this afternoon. Well, I’m off to start some work outside as well. Maybe by putting this out there for the world to see I might actually accomplish all of the things on my To Do List or at least get 90% of it done. Wish me luck. I’ll report later today to let you know how I successful I’ve been.

On the fitness and weight loss journey: I’m struggling. Up 3 and down 2. Today’s goal is to get out and move and drink at least 4 large glasses of water. One glass down and 3 to go.

I thought I posted this 2 hours ago. Apparently not. In the meantime I’m down 3 glasses of water, 2 loads of laundry, raked the front and the back yard, finished cleaning the oven, sprinkled bone meal on the garden, and took out the garden furniture. I also took down the Christmas lights, trimmed the yew and bagged 2 bags of yard waste. Now let’s see if I can get this thing posted…..an ongoing problem.