by Tish MacWebber | Jul 4, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
Hello to you all, and thank you for your patience. I am a little off schedule this week, because as I expected, life got in the way of the weekend. Not to fear, I will be back on schedule for the upcoming week, and plan to post my next Trust Your Gut on time and on schedule.
I am going to keep this short as it is now Tuesday. Canada Day was Saturday, and there were festivities all over the country. There were public events, and house parties from one end of the country to the other. I wore my red summer top and Nova Scotia Hoodie with the Cape Breton patch I sewed onto it myself.
Sunday was my birthday. I turned 43, and it had a few little surprises. I was with my family, and that in itself was really special. There are 5 of us, my parents, and my two sisters and myself. My sisters have their families with them. We live in different parts of Canada, and we have not all been together in the same place at the same time in 4 years. I am getting ready for another family gathering tonight, and I had some help today making deviled eggs and big mac salad for the evening.
Pete Luckett’s Phone Book White and the bottle of Bodacious Smooth White wines were lovely at the gatherings we have been to so far.
I will say that this past weekend was another win for me, and I am still working on winning the whole week long! I am taking the time I have this week to be thankful for my family and friends, and enjoying the memories I am making. What did you do this past weekend?
by Tish MacWebber | Jun 17, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
Egads! I am up REALLY early on a Saturday morning. There must be a reason. Oh yes, there is. A friend wanted to go Yard Sale Shopping today. It is a bit rainy, so we may not do a lot of that, but we have errands, and he doesn’t have a car. I am trying to make more time for my friends, as they are important in my life.
As soon as we are done, Operation Spring Cleaning is going to be completed. I am expecting guests this month, starting tomorrow! I will still have some to do, but today will be the day for the final push. I need to be ready. My parents are coming, and I have not seen them in two years. I am over the moon excited to see them.
I have a plan. I thought it up when I was supposed to be sleeping last night. I will start in the guest room, then the bathrooms. After that, the floors will need cleaning. All of that will take time, and I hope I have more time when I finish all of the chores I have for today.
My Makeup Blog story is in the draft phase. In the next 2 weeks, I plan to publish it. I know it has been taking a really long time for this, but I am writing it without pictures. When I have everything organized after cleaning the Master bedroom, I will then have a place for all of my new makeup, and then I can try it out. See, I DO have a plan, and I have been buying bits and pieces of organization supplies along the way. Maybe today I will find something to help with that.
I wanted to write this early this weekend so I can focus on what I need to do. I am taking on this weekend with a full, running start, and fueling myself with coffee. Lots of coffee.
I hope you are all having a productive, fun-filled, happy weekend! I am going to give it my all, and then some. What are you doing this weekend? What do you do to prepare for guests that visit? Let me know! Maybe I can learn something new!
by Tish MacWebber | Jun 3, 2017 | Events
Relay for Life 2017. Tish & Matty
I attended Relay for Life to participate in the Zumba at Relay. My Zumba instructor does this every year, and when I am able to attend extra Zumba classes to support her and to get me moving more, I go. I actually met her at Relay several years ago. I have come a long way with my Zumba since then, and I will be continuing to go to Zumba as long as I am able to go. I do what I can, and I am feeling the rewards of stress relief, getting stronger and healthier.
So many people are affected by the ugliness of cancer in their lives. Relay is a fundraiser to help find a cure for cancer, but for many people, it is more than that. It is a chance to reflect on loved ones who have lost the battle. It is a chance to support people you know that are fighting cancer. It is also a chance to celebrate with those who have looked cancer in the eye and beat it. Sometimes more than once.
Members of my family have had cancer. It is something I have learned to live with while trying not to live in fear of it. I have been spending some time with a good friend who is not going to win her fight with cancer. It is hard to face as a friend, but it must be even harder to face as a person with terminal cancer. It makes me sad to know that her time is limited and that her family and friends will feel this too. It is hard, sometimes, to know what to do or say. We are becoming better friends because of this terrible thing that is happening to her. We were friends before, but it is important for me to make sure that I am available to spend time with her now, while she is still here and able to enjoy the company of our friendship.
I went to Relay and did Zumba there. I did not participate in anything else. My focus this year was to go and have a good workout. I promised another friend that passed away that I would take care of myself, and although it wasn’t cancer that he died from, in going I am keeping my promise to him. The first few classes I went to after he died broke my heart. I cried. I fought to finish the classes, and I am still keeping my promise to him every time I go.
They found a Rebel who was unable to convince them of the health benefits of Zumba at Relay.
I didn’t see the Storm Troopers in the crowd this year. They were at Relay, but I am guessing Darth Vader ordered them to not participate in Zumba. There were a lot of people there. I saw some angel wings, costumes, masks, and a little girl in a princess dress. When Zumba was over, there was a song still playing on the speakers. We all stopped, and the little princess walked over to me and wanted me to hold her hands and keep dancing. So I did. I don’t know her story, if she was sick, or if she was there because of someone else. I knew I didn’t have a choice in the matter. When a princess approaches you in a crowd full of people and wants to hold your hands and dance, well, you hold her hands and dance in a circle until she wants to stop. I don’t know who she was, except that she was a princess for Relay. I don’t know why she chose me in a crowd full of people, but she did, and I wasn’t prepared to walk away. That is why I attend Zumba at Relay. You never know what kind of memory you will take home with you, and it somehow makes you feel that even when it seems like the ugliness of cancer is at its scariest, if you are able to support a friend or hold the hands of a princess and share a dance, there is a glimmer of hope. Be present in your life, and do good unto others while you are here. Which left me with the message I am carrying in my heart. Hope.
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Zumba Stars
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In the Zumba Zone!
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There were a lot of people there.
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Wider angle pic of the crowd
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Which one do I follow? A radio celebrity is on stage with the Zumba Queen
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Clapping to the warm up song. The Relay Princess is in this picture.
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Finding my Zumba groove
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AIR DRUMS!
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Words of encouragement and hope with some of the participants
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One of the teams and the Zumba Queen
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Looking out over the Relay crowd-pic from the Fredericton Relay For Life page.
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Zumba moves take practice! -pic from the Fredericton Relay For Life page.
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Group photo with my former Team Wipeout. Hey Ellen we take amazing group selfies too!
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Silly after Zumba selfie.
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The real after Zumba Selfie
Most of the pics are from my friend Matty. There are two from Fredericton Relay For Life 2017 Facebook Page, all shared with permission. Why do you Relay?
by Tish MacWebber | May 9, 2017 | Road Trips
At the end of April, we went on a road trip. We crossed the border from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia. The plan was to visit with family. When we finally had the car packed, and hit the road, I decided to take some pics along the way, and write a story about our trip. We hadn’t gone on a road trip in a little more than 2 years, and I had gone long past the get out of the city stage. I managed very well in those 2 years, but I enjoy travelling to see friends and family, whenever I can.
We stopped for gas just outside of Fredericton, where we live. Snacks are necessary for road trips, as well as beverages. A pit stop is also necessary before any road trip. While there, I took a pic of the giant sized road sign of a familiar sight in the area.
Moose Warning Sign. A full grown moose can total a car. It is best to avoid them if seen on the road. The trick is to see them before they cause an accident. Hence the signs.
This gave me an idea. I would take pictures in the car as we travelled. It is a harder thing to do than you think it is. I was a passenger, but our trip was filled with highway driving, and a lot of missed opportunities were not able to be captured by my camera as we drove along.
I decided that I would focus on the different signs along the road, to document where we were going, and provide pics for the story. We didn’t slow down for this. Except for the last pic, which was a near miss itself.
We stopped in Moncton. I wanted a coffee. We got one here.
We then drove until we crossed the border. The first part of our trip was to make it to Nova Scotia.
Welcome to Nova Scotia, photobombed by me!
Before the NS border, there is an unusual warning sign.
Honeybee Warning Sign. I wonder if they can check all the flybys?
Can you imagine bees flying to an office to check and see if they have the proper documentation to enter Nova Scotia? They would need Bee-cases!
We were going to Truro, first. It is between 3 and 4 hours to drive from Fredericton to Truro. We had dinner with family and friends, and we all went back to swim in the hotel pool. The pool was COLD. The Hot Tub was WARM. It tired us all out.
We spent the next morning with our friends. We then saw our family again and spent the afternoon playing Munchkin the Board Game. We played twice, and I had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures of the game. We had a potluck supper, I had made a Greek Pasta Salad with Chicken before we left Friday, and had it on ice or in fridges the whole time. Everybody liked it, and we had some before on the road trip…with my cup of coffee in Moncton, actually, and had some left over that we took with us. We hit the road again after supper.
Then we were off to Dartmouth Crossing, an hour past Truro. We checked into our second hotel room that weekend. I was too tired to go swimming again, so we watched TV and went to sleep. The next morning we had to get ready for a busy day. We were going to see my husband’s Grandmother who is 108 years old! She will be 109 in July. She still lives in her own apartment, in the same building as Roy’s father. We were all going to get together for lunch.
There are 2 signs here. The restaurant where we ate lunch at is to the far left of that building in the background, so the sign for it is here, and also a road sign near the place where Nanny Webber and her son, Roy’s father, Roland live. His friend Gloria lives there too, and she also joined us for lunch.
We met at Nanny Webber’s apartment, had a chat, and picked a place for lunch. We moved the party. We had lunch. Two comical things I noticed. Roy and Nanny Webber both ordered cheeseburger platters. She didn’t eat all of her fries, as she told me sometimes she fills up too much on potatoes. But she saw the lemon meringue pie, and wanted a piece, but not a full slice. I told her Roy could eat the other half. So they shared a slice of lemon meringue pie. Another funny observation I made, neither one of them ate the meringue!
We then went back to the apartment, where I took this pic of the 3 Webbers together.
Roland, Florence, and Roy Webber, l-r
We then said our goodbyes, after promising to try to get back for her birthday in July. We will try.
One last stop before we headed home was at a fish store. Roy is setting up a new fish tank, a 75 gallon. He has been working on making decorations, and there is a theme. There will be a blog about that when he is finished. He wanted to get some live plants. It is a freshwater aquarium. We got a few fish too. All the plants and fish survived the five-hour drive to get home. They are all thriving in their new home with us.
Neat little aquarium themed fish store
We drove home after we finished up our purchases at this store. It was a straightforward drive, with a few snack stops. One last sign I want to share with you if you are ever travelling in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. There are lots of signs like the moose sign I posted above. The other kind warns of places where deer like to cross the road.
Deer Crossing Sign
Before I finish, I talked about the giggles we had on this trip. I missed so many good pics because the camera was off or it was too slow to focus. We had a wonderful trip and looking back, I wouldn’t change much about the visits we had. I also snapped this last photo out of the back window of the moving car. It is of an Inukshuk, an Inuit symbol for others to know that they had been at that place. So someone had been there before, and now you know that we were there too.
The Inukshuk pic, taken through the back window of our moving car.
I said it before in another post, but it is relevant to this post also. Hindsight is 20/20, eh?
by Tish MacWebber | Apr 9, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
Here we are. Another weekend is over. If you are reading the other stories I post, you may know that I did a little shopping last week. I have tried and tried to get myself into that kitchen. This week, I chose another fight. I decided to fight some inner demons.
I have been working hard on this blog. I am pouring my heart and soul into it, and it is having positive effects in my life. This weekend, I took a much needed break from my routine.
I have given myself a deadline for starting to work on my book. I hope to be done with my Spring Cleaning on or before July 1st. This way I have given myself a full 6 months for each project I am working on this year. If I finish early, bonus. I have no doubts that when I sit down to write, it will happen. I am doing well with the consistency of the blog.
A discussion online made me stop and think about my progress. I have not finished yet what I have resolved to do this year. I am making lists and getting some of the things done, but I never finish the list. The approach thus far has been to make the list, get done what I can, and start a new list the next day. Or continue the same list. The discussion I was referring to was when someone alluded to feeling like a fraud because they have not written a book yet.
I am not a fraud. I work hard at things all the time, even if the progress is made only inside of my head. I am also working on making myself healthier, and that is a project that has no deadline. It is ongoing. Deciding what is best for me to tackle on a weekly basis is moving towards completing something. Progress is progress. No matter how it appears to anyone else.
I did a small amount of puttering. I did not do anything that is picture worthy. So the progress pics will have to wait another week. I have a few vacation days coming up in April, and I plan to use them wisely. I am hoping to catch up in the kitchen this month and be able to move on to the rest of my home. I am going to have to force the issue, with myself, if I am ever going to get it accomplished. That is why I have had to give myself a deadline. At some point, I DO have to finish the Spring Cleaning and move on to the book writing.
Writing this series is helping. I am planning and seeing what needs to be done, and I have ideas of what I will be sharing in the pictures as I progress. Tomorrow after work I have plans to work on a small section of the kitchen while making supper. As I wrote somewhere earlier today on social media, the house does not bounce itself.
This weekend I caught up with some friends, and we had a fantastic time at a local board game cafe. We hung out for the whole evening, and that included the taxi driver being pulled over by the cops for making an illegal left turn while driving us to my friend’s house. If I had a cell phone (what! she doesn’t have a cell phone! the horror!) I would have been able to join in with the Pokemon Go the rest of them played last night. I tried it, and we had fun just hanging out.
Today I spent some quality time chatting with family. Then I went to see the new Smurfs movie with my husband. It was SMURFTASTIC! So familiar, and positive, and full of all the Smurfy jokes and Smurf magic.
I worked on myself this weekend. I recharged my batteries and am ready to take on the next week. I will be working on the Spring Cleaning over the next weekend, and hopefully a little bit all week. I know it will all add up and I will get there. So no, I am not a fraud, by any standard. I am a person that is a work in progress, and I am going to keep working until I accomplish my goals.
#WeekendWarrior
