Category: gratitude – August 2021

One Week To Go

by annemariedemyen, posted in February 2023, gratitude - August 2021

One  week until I will be celebrating a solid year since I began my health and fitness journey.  🥳

I am not celebrating the strong finish that I had hoped for.  With a broken arm,  it is difficult to get as physical as I had planned.  But, I am still doing my darndest to dance my way into Year Two and to  finish Year One on as positive a note as possible.

I made a motivational sign for my fridge.  What I lack in creative talent, I make up for in determination.  🤣

I have also been….

  • Getting lots of rest – as in eight to ten hours of sleep per day/night.  (Yes, I have been having an afternoon nap. 🥱)
  • I have been meditating.
  • I have been reading and following my favourite motivational speakers on social media.  Specifically,  those who ‘walk the walk’ and live the life they preach. 
  • I have been eating healthy and have added calcium to my supplement routine of B12, Vitamin D, Lutein, and zinc.  The zinc is another temporary supplement that I have been taking to help heal any lingering effects from my pre-Christmas flu.
  • I have been relaxing  with loved ones.
I still love my dog. 💞
  • And I have been checking in with my Volley (online fitness group) every day.  I couldn’t start my days nearly as well as I do without their enthusiastic morning messages. 😁
  • And of course, I have been doing my best to do all that I can in our kitchen and around our house. It is the least I can do to show my gratitude for everything my husband has done for me in these past few weeks – and the past twenty-four years. 💞

That’s it for this week. One more week until I begin Year two of this fitness journey I am on. I am excited to see where this upcoming year will take me. I can’t believe how far I have come and how beneficial this year has been for me – despite a couple of rather major setbacks.

Take care and have a great day!💞🌞

And love 💓
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August 31st – Celebrating Gratitite

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

It is the last day of August and thus the last day of my tribute to Gratitude.   This has been a great month for me!   I have enjoyed writing each and every post.   I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated each and every  visit, like, and comment received.    I love this sense of community that is WordPress! 💞

For this final chapter on Gratitude, I will once again turn to quotes from the wise!  My appreciation to them for putting into words what I truly believe.

Be thankful for what you have; you will end up having more.  If you concentrate on what you do not have, you will never have enough.

    – Oprah Winfrey

When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out, and the tide of love rushes in.

  – Kirsten Armstrong

Gratitude opens the door to …the power, the wisdom, the creativity of the Universe.  You open the door through gratitude.

   – Deepak Chopra

Gratitude is the single most important ingredient to living a successful and fulfilling life.

   – Jack Canfield

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.

   – Charles Dickens

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.

  – Randy Pausch

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies…those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.

  – John Milton

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

   – Gilbert Chesterton

I hope you have enjoyed your visits to my blog this month, as I have enjoyed sharing it!

Tomorrow a new month begins and with the new month I will be kicking off a new theme. I am going to be going in a totally different direction. We will have to see how that goes. 😂

Have a great day! Take care and I hope to see you tomorrow. 💞

August 30th – Quiet Day

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

Dan is resting for work tonight.   Dom is here for a few hours so I have been trying to quietly entertain him.  Dom is six so quiet isn’t that natural for him.  I made his favourite for lunch (leftover pierogies with sausage).  He ate them while watching cartoons.  The good news is he ate all of his lunch and  managed to do it without stabbing himself with his fork. 👏 (I know, Grandma should make him eat at the kitchen table but Grandma’s a bit of a rebel).

Blue eyed Dom💞

After lunch we went up to the playhouse for a while but the wasps were pretty bad up there today.  We came back in to play with Playdoh and marbles.  The marbles were not quiet. For the record, they were not my idea.   We are back to watching another cartoon.   In a bit, we will head out to pick some peppers for Erin.  That should be a fun bit of entertainment.

There’s not a lot of anything else happening today.  We got our Canadian Tire bill in the mail this morning.   Years ago, when I was alone with my teenagers, I worked long hours to provide for us.   At the end of the month, I would sit down to write cheques for our rent and for any bills I had to pay.     I was always so happy, relieved, and grateful when I had the funds to cover all of our expenses, fill my gas tank, buy groceries, plus stash a few dollars away into savings. 😊     

Fortunately, we never had a month when I came out of this exercise unhappy! 

It has been many years now since I have had to wonder if my hard earned money would cover our regular expenses plus  the miscellaneous costs or raising a family.   Now, when I go to my bank account to transfer funds to cover bills,  I know that our funds will be more than adequate. 😁

But twenty years later, I still get excited when we receive a bill and I open my bank app to pay it.    I am so grateful and happy that we have the funds to cover  every expense we incur.   It just never gets old. 🤣🤣🤣 

Another beautiful sunny day 🤗

Wishing all a great day! Take care and see you tomorrow. 💞

August 28th – Saturday

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

Today is yet another quiet Saturday. Dan is working days this weekend. He is off to work at 3 A.M. For me this weekend, that means I am wide awake by 3:05. 😳

Yesterday, Kat and I fell back to sleep so I was able to have a somewhat productive day once we got up at 7.

I made my cucumber relish. I have no idea whether the recipe I used will be to our taste, but the jars sealed properly so I am excited and super proud of my efforts. 😁

I also got a little yard clean-up done yesterday before my I got rained out (or in as the case may be). I took out some Drake garlic sausage for supper. While Dan barbecued the sausage, I cooked up a big batch of pierogies, heated up some sauerkraut, and sliced some fresh garden tomatoes. Needless to say, our supper was amazing.

Today is not going nearly as well. I could not go back to sleep so I decided to do my morning meditation before I got up. I felt Kat jump off the bed, but since she did not bark or whine as usual, I assumed she was just getting a drink. Needless to say, I was wrong. At five when she started to complain, I got up to let her out. At least I had socks on when I stepped into whatever she had been working on at four. 😒 I am not sure what prompted that but I am thinking she had too much garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers yesterday. 😣

Since I was up, I decided to get on with my day. I cleaned the porch carpet and took out the garbage. I fed Kat and the squirrels and birds. I checked the weather and scanned through the Leader Post epaper, while I had my morning coffee and vitamins. To round things off, I dusted the livingroom. It has been raining for a week and I had already dusted twice. Why? Where does this dust come from? 🤷

The highlight of my morning was catching up on some wandering Canadians.com . I love this blog! If you are looking for an upbeat blog with a huge offering of gorgeous Canadian scenery, you must check this one out. L & K, generously share their hiking adventures while including a well written history and details of the sites they visit. 🥰.

Reading up on all the latest in great Canadian outdoor recreation took the last bit of energy I had this morning. I joined Kat for a nap, followed by a ham and cheese omelet for lunch.

Thankfully, there is still time to get more done around here today. I should take out our recycling, scrub down the washroom, and do some laundry. Dan requested pizza for supper, so that is as good as done.

Meanwhile, I am feeling grateful that my husband continues to work so I can enjoy my retirement. I am feeling grateful that I have the luxury of a nap when my day calls for it. And, I am feeling grateful for the company of my little dog – even when she is less than the perfect companion. 🙂

Wishing all a great day! Take care and see you tomorrow. 💞

August 26th – On a Roll!

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

There are weeks when nothing seems to work out regardless of how hard I try.  🥺 Then the are weeks that work out fairly well, but there are just enough snafus to be rather annoying. 🤨 And then, there are weeks like this week! 😁

Yesterday, I sent a quick message to my  niece Teenie (Jeanne Christine) I had not spoken to her for few months.  She messaged back and we had a nice chat.  This morning, my sister Lorraine sent a message, and we chatted for a bit.  My family is scattered across western Canada and the US.  We don’t connect often, so when we do it is always special. 💞

After my chat with Lorraine, I went outside to feed the squirrels and birds. I stopped to check the garden and found a few more cucumbers ready for picking. We already have more cucumbers than we can use so I decided to make relish. Since I haven’t done any canning or pickling for a couple of decades, I needed to make a run to Walmart to pick up some canning jars and a few other things.

That is when I really started to roll! I don’t care to drive at the best of times but today things went better than usual. The drive itself was fine. 🙂

The parking went better! I love that backup camera. 👏
I got everything I needed – and it fit into the top basket of the cart, where I could reach it at the checkout. 👍
I got home and again the parking went darn near perfect. 🤩
And… The canning rack I bought fit into my canning pot – perfectly. 🥳

Finally, my surgeon’s office called to book my hernia surgery! It turned out we couldn’t book it yet because the lab hasn’t set up my catscan and bloodwork but the woman I talked to is going to call them to get me in there ASAP!! So, it is progress. 😊

There are special days when great things happen. Those days are amazing. But the regular days when special things happen, or regular things just work great – those days are just GOLD! 🤗

I hope your day is going well. Take care and see you tomorrow! 💞

August 25th – Time Flies!

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021, Uncategorized

It seems like we were just cleaning the patios and planting the garden and here we are with autumn bearing down on us! The seasons seem to pass faster every year. 😳

Dan emptied the pool this morning 😥
Grandpa’s Bleeding Heart is done for the year. 😟
The wildflowers around the birdbath are looking rough.

I have never been a fan of autumn but there is still much to be grateful for. I am grateful for the fresh garden produce that we are enjoying every day, grateful that I have Dan to manage much of the heavy fall cleaning, grateful that I am not facing a winter of dark and icy drives to work (YAY), grateful for the end of mosquitoes and other bugs, and of course I am grateful that I am still here to enjoy each and every day!

Kat’s new food chock full of goodness and fresh garden vegetables and herbs.
At least the petunias are still blooming!

Wishing everyone a great day. Take care and see you tomorrow!

August 23rd – Accomodations

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

While we were celebrating at son Dan’s this weekend, we arranged to stay at a Microtel by Wyndham hotel in the small city near their acreage.

I usually do fairly good at arranging for accomodations on our travels, and as usual I did not disappoint. 👍

The hotel I chose has been recently renovated. Everything was new and fresh. With parking and a typical buffet breakfast included, our room was quite economical. This hotel allowed pets, so we were able to bring Kat along to enjoy our time away. They do charge an extra twenty dollars a night for dogs, but obviously so worth it.

There was only one downside to this hotel that had Dan and I a little concerned. It is situated on the eastern edge of the city. Son Dan lives a few miles west of the city. 🙄 However, we soon discovered that even that worked perfectly for us, as the entire west end of the city was tied up with road construction and there was a perfect and paved shortcut that ran from our hotel straight to son Dan’s acreage. It could not have been more convenient!

Large enough television and desk/counter area.
Comfortable sitting area with a convenient kitchenette.
Relaxing color scheme and decor.
The queen size bed was comfortable.
Kat even had her own built in bed. (She chose to sleep with us 😒)

The washroom was small, but adequate. I prefer to have a bathtub, but the shower was roomy and had a rain showerhead that even I found comfortable.

The room included all the extra touches like a blow-drier in the washroom and an ironing board and iron. It had wifi of course. The hotel amenities included a pool, hot tub, and exercise room that seemed quite well appointed. There was also the breakfast buffet area and a small bar that served appetizer type foods, plus barbecues and a patio area behind the hotel.

I would definitely recommend this chain to anyone looking to stay at a decent hotel. We enjoyed our stay. We were easily grateful for comfort and cleanliness of the place and the gracious and accommodating staff. 🤗

It is time to get a few things done around here now. We have more than a few tomatoes in our fridge to deal with and no doubt plenty more out in the garden to pick. Kat is also getting pretty low in cooked food so should get a batch whipped up for her.

Wishing all a nice day! Take care and I hope to see you tomorrow. 💞

August 22nd – All’s Well

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

We just returned home from Dan & Amanda’s wedding reception weekend. I am so grateful that everything went amazingly well! A good time was enjoyed by all!

We were too busy having fun to take many photos, but I am sure we will get plenty via the official photographer who was there on Saturday afternoon.

Son Dan made sure there was enough room for guests by building a massive extension to their deck. (He still has the top of the gazebo to go and Amanda is enlisting help for next spring in filling all of the built in flower planters.)
Dan’s friend Greg, (on the middle deck with me) was Dan’s co-builder, as well as Amanda of course! Gabby and her friend were on the lower deck, where all of the tables were set up for supper.
The many younger guests had a bouncy castle, pool, hot tub, trampoline, playhouse, six dogs, and at least twenty pounds of candy to keep them amused.
Cason chose to entertain himself with a blue marker, grape soda, and by something on his foot. Possibly lingering marker ink. 🙂
Dan made a replica of their original ‘pandemic’ wedding cake. Omg delicious!
Amanda and Dan

The highlight of the day was a video presentation by granddaughter Gabby. She recorded moments of their courtship, proposal, wedding preparations, and their official wedding ceremony. We laughed, we cried, it was truly fantastic! She has a gift. 📽️

All in all, it was another great day to celebrate their love, and their love for their yours, mine, and ours family – Gabby, Lucas, and Cason💞

Wedding Day – December 2020

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Take care, keep dry, & I will see you tomorrow! 💞

August 19th – One Day at a Time

by annemariedemyen, posted in gratitude - August 2021

I am finishing up a dozen loose ends this week. As much as I would like to say it is all fun and smooth sailing, that of course is not the way life goes. There are always a few hiccups along the way.

These hiccups, and potential hiccups, are the reason that I am so grateful for You Tube and for those who take the time to share their beautiful, calming videos. The two that I have posted here are ones that I have been working with this week. They help me to dig deeper, to a place where I can deal with the ups and downs of daily life in a semblance of peace, dignity and appreciation.

It is funny how so many of us tend to focus on our physical and mental well-being, while ignoring that part of us that actually controls the quality of our lives – the love, peace, happiness, contentment, abundance, freedom, and joy – all of those things that matter the most to us. All of those things that we strive to have and to share with others.

Anyway, if you are looking to invest a few minutes of your day in an exercise of spiritual healing, I recommend the following meditations. The Tibetan Monks one is fairly lengthy but I listen to it for a few minutes at a time and it saves my place for more listening at a later time. 👍

Wishing everyone a great day! Take care and I will see you tomorrow. 💞