In Weeknd Warrior #53: Multitasking for the Win, this weekend was busy and not. All at the same time. I had baking to do Friday night, for a bake sale on Saturday. I participated in some writing sprints. So I wrote for an hour, then made Macaroons. Then after I got them in the fridge, I entered into the second hour of writing. In that time of writing, Friday, in both sessions, I started a new fictional story about the cats in my book. It will have a time and a place for release. It was fun to write a what if story about them. It is going to be something special when I am ready to share it.
Saturday I got ready and picked up some bottles at work for the Bottle Drive. The event that I was baking for Friday night was a three part event. It was for Boston Terrier Rescue Canada, and I am a volunteer with them, so I pitch in when and where I can. This event was made up of the bottle drive, a bake sale, and a local grooming business was offering nail trims for donations as well. I had the job of watching the Bake Sale Table when I arrived.
I thought about bringing my laptop to use wi-fi while I was there. It was going to be a few hours, and I debated the idea. I decided to print out the partial manuscript of my book and work on the editing while I was between customers at the bake sale. It worked out well. I was able to convince another volunteer to take a picture of my multitasking at the event.
Volunteering for Boston Terrier Rescue Canada while editing my first book. Multitasking win!
I wrote some more of that story I was working on Saturday. I didn’t make the earlier session but I managed to get to the second one. I spent the day writing and napping Sunday. I tried something different Sunday morning, and it was tough to write, and I don’t know if I will ever do anything with it. It was really personal, and it made me cry. Sometimes writing is just for the Author. Other times it gets to be shared with the world. I actually went back to the other story in the morning today and finished it. For the last hour of writing this weekend, I started writing my second book. I want to finish the editing on my first book before continuing to write it. I am worried that I am going to be repeating myself, and then I will have more work to do. So that is what I was up to this weekend. Volunteer work and writing. Not a lot done around the house, but a productive weekend, in other areas. Time to get ready for Monday.
Hello Weekend Warrior readers! This weekend was again your Thursday and Friday. Things will be getting back to normal for me soon, and I will be really glad for that. It has been a learning curve with training for the new position. Thankfully, I know a lot from my previous position, so it is not ALL new, but I am finding it drains my energy because it is still new to me.
This weekend I had a lot of goals and zero gumption. I think my seasonal depression is starting to kick in. I will be adding some more vitamin D asap. I live in Canada, and that is the one vitamin that came as a recommended one when I saw a specialist a while back. I do take multivitamins, but I think I might need a little boost. No, it is not an official diagnosis by a doctor, but it does seem to be a pattern that I have seen the last number of years. I just keep doing what I can.
The challenges help, when I get around to doing them. I feel like I am close to burning out, though, because I am just blah. I am still going through the motions, but I am capable of more. It is hard to just get the little things done, some days. When you combine the time of year, the new position at work, and the amount of things I have accomplished in the last 14 months working to build my Author platform, and writing books, keeping up with the blog, and trying new things all the time, eventually I was going to need some downtime. I think I am smack dab in the middle of my downtime season. Which is tough, because I have goals and deadlines. I have things to do that need to be done.
I am starting to wean off from all of the challenges I was doing. I need to focus on applying what I have already learned to my advantage. It is hard, though. I see the new ones starting up, and it would be so easy to lose myself in the challenges again. A part of me feels like I am going to be missing out on some important things. Another part of me is more sensibly saying to take a break. I can learn more after I have worked through all of the information I did learn already.
I did some volunteer work yesterday. I was unable to attend the event today, but I helped the Boston Terrier Rescue Canada team set up the booth for the event last night. I was only there an hour, and then I decided to get groceries. After that, it was time to pick up my husband after work and get ready to start my work week. The good news is that a friend is taking me to see Pitch Perfect 3 tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to that. My husband is not interested, so we are going to leave my car for him, and my friend and I will take his car to the movie. It is nice to have a night out on my Tuesday with a friend. Tomorrow. Your Sunday. I will be so glad when things are back to normal.
I am not holding my breath because things tend to change at work if you get used to them. If things go as they are looking, I will be back to my regular hours so that I can do the new job, and get back to Zumba very soon! I miss it, and I hope that it does work out. I am liking the fact that I can listen to my music at work again. It really helps me to stay positive. Music is my jam, people!
I had an underwhelming 2 days off. I did very little, and that means the weekend has its second win already this year! I plan to get that fixed asap. I need to feel like I am in control again.
Another late entry. Good news is that I think things are going to slow down for a week or two. I sure hope so. I am trying to write a book this month, and I am falling behind.
Not to fear, tomorrow is a new day, and I will start making up time and words when I have less going on in my social life. Busy, busy, busy. I never had such a busy year as I have this past year. I am not sure of the exact date, but my original blogging journey started in November 2016. I am working on the website, writing a novel this month, writing down thoughts and ideas for my fantasy trilogy. Thinking about all of that makes my head spin.
I had things that needed my attention this past weekend. I was doing a little extra time at work late last week. Then I started my weekend at Houlie’s with a friend. He was helping me out with some rides, and I thought he deserved a thank you meal. We enjoyed the food. It is always good there. There has been a long stretch of road construction in the area, and it had been a while since I had my favourite Mozza sticks. They did not disappoint.
My friend and I ran errands, and then he left me for a viewing of the Silver Wave Film Festival 2017. I needed to be at the Midnight Madness showing of killer ducks and zombie movies. There were two short films and a 78 minute long movie. Short film 1 was called Duck Duck Noose. It was hilarious. I laughed all the way through it, with the rest of the audience. The title was a dead give away. Killer ducks indeed.
The second short film was described as a trailer. It was called Turned. It was a serious fictional documentary zombie movie trailer. It was filmed in Cape Breton (Horray for Cape Breton!) and it started with someone waking up after being bitten by a zombie. It followed her journey home, and her change from being a human to a zombie. It tackled some deep concepts in a few short minutes, and it was enjoyable to see a different perspective on the zombie apocalypse.
The headliner was Anonymous Zombie. It was filmed in New Brunswick, and my friend Kadi Oram was the Special/Visual Makeup Artist for the movie. I wanted to go to the movie premiere to support her and to see the movie. It was great. It was funny, gory, and almost spooky at times. There was a lot of action and clever plot twists from the start to the end. I was glad I made the effort to go and see it. It is the first time I was at the festival or any official movie premiere. I had not been home after work before going, so I was in my casual Friday work clothes. Kadi looked fantastic! I didn’t have a lot of time to chat with her, but I made sure that I told her husband that I enjoyed the movie. I sat right in front of the director. I wondered if he thought that I laughed in a few parts that weren’t supposed to be funny, or not. I have a wacky sense of humour, and I laughed lots while watching the movie. It was meant to be funny, so it wasn’t all serious, but sometimes I felt like I was the only one laughing at certain parts.
Onward to Saturday. I volunteered at the Pet Expo with Boston Terrier Rescue Canada. I was a part of a team, so my presence was only required for 3 hours. A piece of cake. or in this case, a cookie by donation. 🙂 They had the giant chocolate chip and Skor bits cookies again. Fantastic investment of $2.00, and it goes to the rescue.
They were huge and delicious. I went back for more on Sunday, and they were sold out!
I was glad to help, and knowing that it was just a few hours made it easy to pitch in and do my part. Here is the booth. They have a lot of variety!
BigMac Salad for Lunch
Cheeseburger Pie
Cheeseburger Pie
I then went home, after the volunteering shift was over, and I was hungry. So Roy and I went to Houlie’s. (twice for me on the weekend) We got wings and nachos. I didn’t forget the Mozza sticks, I never miss them. It was good, and Roy decided that he likes the breaded wings better. We got 2 flavours, and one breaded, and one not. Now we know. The trick will be to remember.
We met up with the friend from earlier in the story to go and see Thor Ragnarok. If you like this type of movie, it will be a great choice. Stan Lee had a speaking part, and was unexpected character-wise, even though he is expected to appear in all of his movies. There was a new character that was a lot of fun, too. No spoilers here, just go see it. You will be glad that you did.
Sunday had a few errands and an online write in. I did some NaNoWriMo writing in the write-in. It was a way to get back on track. I am falling behind again, but the night is young. I am going to sign off for now. I am sorry it was a little late this week, but that is a wrap. What did you do this weekend?
I spent a bit of time cat sitting this weekend. That happens sometimes. I like cats, and there may be a time when we need help from our friends, so I make sure I am available. I watched some movies on Netflix with the cats. Movies my husband has not expressed an interest to see. I watched the Gaga movie Five Foot Two. I enjoyed it. It gave the fan a look from the outside into her creative process, showing her as a person that has issues like everyone else. It also gave insight into the thought process behind her last album, Joanne. Wow. I didn’t know what that song was written about. I had an idea, but the documentary really explained a lot about the title song. There is so much more to her heart than I knew. I also watched Hidden Figures. That was a really good movie. It made me mad sometimes, about the way things used to be. I am glad that things are different, now, but I don’t think that they are better. People are people, and we need to work on being nicer to each other. Me too.
I watched the documentary Long Time Running too. As a Tragically Hip fan, I was sad to hear the news last week that their frontman, Gord Downie, died after fighting his battle with cancer. It followed the band and a bit of his solo project in the last year. They had a concert that was aired commercial-free last year, and any show they were in since, whether it was on CBC or CTV has been aired the same way. The last concert of their last tour was broadcast across the country in its entirety pretty much everywhere. I watched it on a big screen with several hundred strangers and a few friends. It didn’t matter, we all sang, watched and cried together. I am glad I made a point of doing that, as I never got to see them play live. This was as close as I was ever going to get, and it was such a memorable evening.
I have reflected about the musicians that have died in the last few years. I don’t know of any that took a fatal illness and fought it head on to raise awareness for both the illness and a cause close to their heart. Gord has made Canadians stop and think about many things this past year. He had the support of his medical team, his band, his family, and his fans through it all. What a legacy to leave behind. Last night another Gord Downie hour took up my attention. It was the concert of his mission, The Secret Path. It is not my story to tell, but it made me sad to watch it last night. It wasn’t that it was being aired after he passed away, but the raw artistry displayed in telling the story along with the animation and song moved me to tears. It was not a story with a happy ending, and it has me wondering what I can do to make things better. I cannot fix the past mistakes made in Canada, but I can try to help and heal. Someone said to just reach out and be a friend. I think it is an excellent place to start.
Around all of this, I had a really busy Saturday. I had 2 separate events.The first one was the annual Boston Terrier Rescue Canada Recycling for Rescue Event. I showed up and helped separate some cigarette packages for recycling. I helped hang a poster and went on a coffee run. I donated to get a BBQ lunch. My husband also enjoyed lunch and had cashed in some bottles a neighbour donated for the rescue. I got someone to tell him about a dog that needs a home through the rescue, but he said no. We have to be in agreeance when we get a dog, it has to work for both of us, and for the dog. So no dog for me yet.
I then jumped in my car after bringing him home and getting my laptop. I went to the first NaNoWriMo Meet & Greet of the season. I had a little too much caffeine in me, and I chatted everyone’s ears off. I hope I didn’t scare anyone off. 😉 I was a little bubbly, and if I am saying I was talking a lot, I was. I think it went well. We all answered questions when asked, and I think it was a success.
I was so busy I am feeling like I am forgetting something. I had to scrub my BTRC t-shirt in between events as it decided to be a magnet for coffee and mustard. Then I found out there were puppy paw prints on it too. LOL. There were dogs a the event, and they were friendly. I really don’t know how I got all that done in a weekend, but I fit it all in. I am feeling rather tired still, so I am hoping to have a chance to rest up around the other project I am working on.
I KNEW I WAS FORGETTING SOMETHING! I am hard at work on the website. I want to launch it on November 1st. The blog has moved, and I will be adding this to the other location and the other stories up until November 1st will be in both locations. Then I will be working on the website for the blogging and other new adventures from then on. Don’t worry, it won’t be hard to find, and I am going to share the links when it is ready for the launch. I am finally pushing forward with this project, and I am getting excited about it. It was a super busy weekend, with ups and downs, full of challenges and progress. Next weekend is busy with Halloween parties, and if we are lucky I will have some pictures for the story next weekend. Until then, sorry it was a little late, but I was definitely a winner this past weekend! How was your weekend?
Here comes another weekend. I am relaxing with a bottle of wine on this fine Friday night. It is well deserved and has been in the wine rack for a while. I kept it so that when I wanted to indulge, I would enjoy it. I have, indeed.
What else did I do? I started an Orphan Black Marathon of season 5. It is the last season, and it ends tomorrow night. Oh, how bittersweet it will be.
Saturday will be a full on, all out Bouncing the House day. I need to get some cleaning done, and except for the washing of my delicates tonight while I enjoy the wine, I am falling behind in the housekeeping department, and I need to give it some TLC. My husband will be drafted with a “Honey do list”, and we will get some work done here tomorrow. Update: I am visiting a friend on Saturday, and I caught up with another friend while running an errand.
Sunday involves a volunteer event. I am working with the Boston Terrier Rescue Canada group again. I am an official volunteer, and we will have a booth at the Fredericton Pride Parade. I have signed on for the walking time in the parade because if I am going to be there, I want to get some exercise. Walking is good for me. BTRC needs fund raising by people like me to help the non-profit group rescue more dogs in need, foster them, and hopefully place them in homes where they will be adopted.
Volunteers ready to walk in the parade
These t-shirts are hilarious like the bandanas
Flags and phone covers and bling!
Magnets and information about the BTRC Recycling program
Bandanas for the dogs
One of the BTRC bandanas.
The chocolate cupcakes were delicious. They also had popsicles and pup-sicles!
Just like MasterChef! Hands in the air! All done setting up!
Action shot! There were a lot of people out, it was the best turnout ever for Fredericton Pride Parade day!
The Booth is ready for business!
Katie and Sally, all dolled up and riding through the parade in style!
I made it after walking in the parade.
I met some new volunteers today
Face painting success!
As a Catholic who believes in science and that the unexplained mysteries of how science and religion mingle will not be fully explained to me until I reach Heaven (which I sincerely hope to do, but realistically I expect to land in purgatory because nobody is perfect) I try to live my life guided by the church and the bible. That being said, I have spent many years in conflict with myself.
I have come to terms with how I am able to be friends with different people. That is the secret. They aren’t fat or skinny, male or female, black or white, young or old, gay or straight. They are people. And as people, we all have our own belief systems. Mine happens to be based in the Catholic Religion. It teaches us to love one another, and also not to judge. With these simple rules, I leave the rest to God. I am able to be friends with some wonderful, incredible people, and because I do not judge them, I think I am a better person for leaving the judgements aside and letting more friends into my life. Like I said, nobody is perfect, and when it is not up to me, I am free to be true to myself. I am able to open my eyes and see people as they are, people. Like me.
Lynn showing her t-shirt and flag she wore for the parade
Truck for the parade
Ambulance for the parade
After the Parade, before the Thunderstorms
They must be at the start!
People in the parade
Fire in the parade
People in the parade
Matty & Me
BTRC Group!
BTRC group!
I don’t usually write about my faith and religion. I am not attempting to erase the past wrongs done by the Church, or by other Catholics. I am only responsible for myself and my own actions. I do try to be a good person, and live my life by example, with the 10 Commandments as my guide. When I think about the state of the world today, I feel concerned. I am not confident that humankind will survive the future of what might be. I decided to write about it because change is possible. It starts with one person. I am putting this out there and making it known that I do not tolerate evil, no matter what form it takes. Hatred is evil, and there is no room in my life for it. If I had my way, there would be no room in the Universe for it.
The weather is iffy for tomorrow. There is a chance it will rain, and maybe there will be thundershowers. Not the best forecast for a parade. It will happen, rain or shine. I will try to dress for any weather (that will be challenging) and my sneakers are the best I’ve got for walking. I am thinking about wearing something fun, in support of my friends. I don’t have a costume, like some people, but then I am an ally. It’s not about me. It’s about allowing people to be true to themselves and to celebrate their acceptance of themselves and each other. Together. The way people are supposed to be. United in a common cause and belief, in a peaceful celebration. I hope it does not rain on the parade.
It poured! There was a thunderstorm indeed, complete with rolling thunder and lightning. This happened after the parade, though. People packed up as quickly as they could and ran for cover. Imagine it, if you will. I went to the Fredericton Pride Parade, and I left all wet! A little (or a lot of) rain never hurt anyone.
Laughing in the rain!
YES!
Before heading home, we stopped at the Tiki Iced Tea Bar. Yes, it was shaken, not stirred, and wonderful!
The city has implemented a rainbow crosswalk downtown. I think it is nice, and living in such a diverse city, and country, it fits in very well.
The rainbow crosswalk
The other end of the rainbow crosswalk
Feeling the love after the rain at Fredericton Pride Parade, 2017
That’s a wrap for another weekend! I won today, but the house did not get bounced properly. I will say the weekend won Saturday, even though I still had a great time meeting up with friends, I did not accomplish what I set out to do. This weekend, it was a draw. What did you do this weekend?
