Daily Jots

Britt and I have gotten into the habit of going for a walk each morning. It’s cold and I hate it, but I’m kind of glad that we did. No one else seems to be out and yesterday we stopped at one of our neighborhood parks and we had it all to ourselves. We sat on a bench, watched the clouds for a while and even checked out the playground equipment.

When was the last time you actually sat on one of those bouncy animals and not felt like an idiot? Luckily there was no one around lol…

Don’t know what I’m going to do when my landscaping daughter goes back to work in the spring. I’m kind of liking the company!

Just got in late last night, so for the next ten days or so, I plan to soak up the culture. But I have a great restaurant to tell you about… it’s called Islands and although we had to wait for ever to get a table, the wait was worth it. I had a Hawaiian Hamburger and I simply couldn’t finish it. I have never seen a hamburger that big! And you don’t order one serving of french fries, you order them by the bucket to share.

And oh yes… the weather was amazing. We left -10C weather and while I was too tired to inquire what the temperature was last night, we are back to tank tops and flip flops. Doesn’t get much better than that.

I will try to log in later today with an update of what I saw. What it will be at this point I haven’t a clue, but I trust that I will enjoy every minute of it!

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.
Gloria Steinem

Do you believe that your dreams mean something? Could it be that your dreams are trying to tell you something?? There has to be some reason we dream don’t you think??

“There is no universally agreed-upon biological definition of dreaming. The dogma states that dreams are associated with REM sleep but the evidence for this is not strong. Subjects awakened during REM sleep usually report having been dreaming but since REM sleep is not as deep as non-REM sleep, it would be expected that dreams are better remembered but not necessarily more common during REM sleep. Some neurologists even group mental phenomena such as daydreaming under the umbrella of dreaming.”

During a typical lifetime a person spends about 6 years dreaming (which is about 2 hours each night.

What do you dream about and did your dreams ever come true? My daughter has the most amazing knack of dreaming about the future.

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“Sleep affects everything from how we look and feel to how we perform. Our moods are significantly worse after a poor night’s rest, and we pack on pounds when not getting enough sleep. So how do you handle your bouts of insomnia or squeeze sleep into your crazy schedule? We asked Hollywood’s busiest women what their tricks are for getting some shut-eye.”

I don’t have any trouble falling asleep, it’s staying asleep that I have the hardest time with. And when you are suddenly awake at 3 a.m., there’s really not a lot you can do, but apparently these celebrities have a few tricks to help you drift off!

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Yes, I came into my office before I even went down to breakfast. My brain feels a bit muddy this morning and I needed a bit of inspiration before I start blogging. I clicked on “StumbleUpon” and sure enough it took me straight to a site that talks about writing 100 words a day… no more and no less. The site even gives you little “stories” completed in yes… 100 words.

Now if you took that idea for each blog… sort of brainstorming, I don’t think that you would have a problem coming up with something to write about each day.

And it all starts with 100 words which is about 4 lines in length! I think that I can do that!

100 Words

That’s all you have… twenty minutes to kick back and do just what you want to do. So, what’s it going to be? Believe it or not, I actually have a book about that very topic. Yes, I do collect a lot of books and sometimes I even open them up to see what they are about!

I just noticed that it’s listed for $2.99! I just looked at the back of the book and I paid $18.95. Guess I should have waited!

Thinking out loud here… I’m not sure I like the idea of practicing Yoga for someone with an aching back, but after reading the short article I think that I know where I went wrong.

I did not use a group session like the women in the study. I tried following a video, so chances are, I was not in the proper position and only made my back pain worse. I swore that I would never do Yoga again… but maybe if I found a group to join, maybe I could learn how to strengthen my back?? And if I slid into the wrong position, there would be someone to point it out!

Definitely worth checking out. I can’t even imagine what it would be like not to have an aching back on a (near) daily basis.

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Chin Deep in Bubbles is about all the little luxuries that you can and should experince everyday! My favorite has to be the recipe for French Patisserie Spa Brownies… it’s just full of all kinds of decadent ingredients and if you can’t get decadent at Christmas time, when can you??

And of course I would have a book about the topic. According to my husband, there isn’t a topic that I don’t have something on. I think he’s wrong, but I have to admit that I picked up another book for myself yesterday when I was supposed to be buying Christmas presents.

And the bathtub party bit… well, maybe I’m just not as decadent as I thought!!

*Chin Deep in Bubbles: Little Luxuries for Every Day

Now this is my kind of holiday. You stay home… simply because you are well! Kind of reminds me of the days when we used to skip school. Oh, those were fun days. But, in case any teens are reading this entry, it was a very, very bad thing for me to do!!

Anyway, I work at home so I can’t very well take the day off just because I’m “well”, but I can take the afternoon off work and watch that video up there. Yes, I own that one and the earlier version as well. I wonder when someone will remake it yet again?? I love to see how they tweak the story each time! Can’t say which version is my favorite… like the both equally!

;)

Miracle on 34th Street - Older Version
Miracle on 34th Street

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I don’t know if I can blame it on all of the shopping I have been doing lately, or it’s the fact that I have been waking up at 3:30 am every morning wide awake!! And this morning is no different, so I decided that I would see if there is something that I could do about them that does not require less shopping.

Well, the first thing that I read was about putting a bag of frozen peas against the area. Yes, that would work lol…, but maybe an cooling eye gel mask with a 15 minute break would work. And it seems that I have to change my makeup as well. Everything has to suddenly be applied to draw the eye up (and away from my bags) and here is something I didn’t know. Apparently a zinc-oxide ointment will held delate the bags. Must try that one!!

Any tricks that you would like to share??

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