For today......

Outside My Window...   

This tree is outside my car window each time I drive home along Hwy 14/ Henday from Baseline Road.  It is one of my favourite trees.  I think it is so sweet.  It barely survives each Winter and is all bent over from the wind and no shelter, but I love it.  It looks as though it deserves a big heavy star at the tip :)  It's so sad looking it is sweet :)  

I have always wanted a photograph of it, and tonight i took one with the sun setting behind it :)

 

I am thinking...

about how well this school year is going so far and how much we are enjoying homeschooling!  How great the classes are going, how booked up our schedule is - yet leaving us with enough time to relax and see friends/ do work too and how much we have to look forward to!  And we have met so many new people already!  We have a play planned with Jennifer, monthly homeschool group at the library, formal coffee nights, informal social nights, outdoor education, French club, science classes, Bricks4Kidz, swimming, park days, 

I am thankful for...  

a certain someone for making me laugh...and smile :)  

From the kitchen...

Mondays pulled pork was really good, and tomorrow I'm making a soup that has ground beef in it.  It's another recipe from the Crock Pot Girls on Facebook.  

I am wearing...

clothes for Fall weather again - it was cold today!  It only reached 10c and was only 3c when we first headed out this morning!  Socks and boots were definitely needed instead of sandals!

I am creating...

Art journal pages and canvases

Ideas for homeschool group activities

a new life :)

I am going...

to the park tomorrow afternoon to meet up with some other families and to pay Thanh for the Safety City field Trip.  I am so pleased Sam is going on that trip.  He will love it so much!  I am going to have our first poetry tea on Friday I think...Have to get Abigail her cup and saucer before then though I guess!

I am reading...

Homeschooling Horizons Magazine - the Canadian Homeschoolers magazine - issue 1!!!  It arrived yesterday and is REALLY good :)  

I am hoping...

to hear from the insurance guy tomorrow - it is driving me crazy - one big disaster.  Typical!

I am hearing... 

The furnace running - sigh...it's cold :(

Around the house...

Now it is getting colder I guess it is time to start on chores inside the house - finishing painting and finishing the stairs and the bathrooms and bits and pieces....blah...

One of my favorite things...

Fall walks through crunchy fallen leaves with that musty smell of woodlands :)  

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...

park day tomorrow.  kidz quarterz on Thursday with Tracy. The children are at their Dads this weekend and I have plans :)  Laurence is away camping all weekend with friends.  Rather him than me ;)  

Article on Happiness - I think this is so true :)

Sorry I can't remember where I found this article but I had it saved in my Email folder!!


How to be Happier
We are all born with a "set point" of happiness, but we now know that it is also a learned behavior and just because someone isn't born that way, they can be that way if they choose to be. Genetics determines about 50%.

Important in learning to be happy:
1. Meditation
2. Journaling (esp. gratitude)
3. Fake it till you make it. Faking happiness causes the same chemical reactions as BEING happy and eventually will create the happiness. Actions matter - act happy.
4. Surrounding yourself with friends and family is a huge factor in increasing happiness.
5. Having your own sense of self and no interest in keeping up with the Joneses is helpful.
6. Doing activities that put you in the "flow" where you lose sense of time and enjoy it, increases overall happiness. The more of those you have, the better off you are. Doing what you're best at.
7. Must have a capacity to love and be loved.
8. Altruism
9. Spirituality
10. Creativity


Damaging to happiness:
1. not forgiving - huge - the biggest stumbling block - the single biggest determining factor in someone's happiness level
2. materialism


Surprises:
1. Major health problems, such as loss of mobility, have no long term effect on people's general happiness. After about 90-180 days they return to their pre-incident level of daily happiness.
2. People are very bad at predicting what will make them happy. Better to trust human resilence than human prediction.
3. More choices you have the more likely you are to be unhappy. People feel with so many choices, there's no excuse for failure. Choices also make people question every decision.
4. Happiness comes mostly in daily little bits. People get thrills out of finding a quarter or getting an unexpected gift. The emotion actually makes them more generous, friendlier, flexible, creative and better at solving problems. Small bursts of this feeling caused radiologists to make more accurate diagnoses in one study. 

Another beautiful Brave Girl's post

FROM BRAVE GIRLS CLUB!!! CLICK HERE!!!

Tag time :)

listening - Abigail and Sam chattering away outside while they play.  Susannah on the computer watching a video.

eating - coffee and chocolate 'nudges' that Trish brought me back from BC :)  

drinking - tea that Susannah brought me up when she got in from school xxx

wearing - my red hoody.  Sooooo comfy and warm :)  

feeling - ready for Fall.  Ready for socks and boots, jeans and warm sweaters and hoodies.  Curling up by the fire to do schoolwork.  family walks through the woodland trails with the crisp fallen leaves beneath our feet.  Coziness and cuddles in someones warm arms :)  

wanting - this weekend to arrive :)  

needing - to get the ground beef out of the freezer before I head out for the evening otherwise I will never remember tonight!!  Trying a new recipe in the crockpot tomorrow!  

thinking - about fresh starts, possibilities....

enjoying - Fall weather, Fall colours....Fall routines....

wondering - what the next few months will bring....

Morning walk on a crisp Fall day....

While Abigail was in her Outdoor Education class, Sam and I met up with friends and went for a lovely walk around the Wilderness Centre.  Despite the chill in the air, it was a lovely sunny morning and the scenery was gorgeous!  Sam and his friend loved exploring the trails (and off the trails) and Jennifer and I let them lead the way, while we followed and tried to keep up!!  

Jennifer luckily had a frisbee in the car, so we were able to make the most of the frisbee golf game they now have going around the trails there!  I think we will have to head out there for a game one evening!!

On the way home we stopped off at our local playground for a bit more exercise and to make the most of the sunny day...it was still chilly but nice and sunny.  The playground is new this Summer:

Fire starter!

This morning Abigail had her first Outdoor Education class at the Wilderness Centre. The theme of this class was 'Fire Starting'.  It was a mixed age class from 8 years to 17 years and worked really well.  They were taught basic safety of outdoor survival - from what to wear - layers, silk, polyester etc NOT cotton etc and how to build a fire.  They were taught two 'styles' of fire  - the teepee and the 'jenga' style.  

They each got to try starting a fire and then when they had all started a fire, they then got to cook some bannock on the fire once it was roaring :)  The bannock was delicious and they were each given a recipe for bannock to bring home :)

The smell of the fire was lovely on a cold crisp Fall morning - and I thought it was perfect that today was the first cold morning we have had!  

Abigail really enjoyed her class - especially as several of her friends were in the class:

Senses tag.....

• One thing I saw today was…the very sad status update from Faiths Mom and Dad saying that little Faith had passed away this afternoon.  I am glad to hear that she is no longer in pain or struggling to breathe, but I am still so very sad that a little girl so full of life and happiness...a little girl so happy with her Barbie house just a few short weeks ago, is no longer alive to enjoy it :(  Life really is so unfair sometimes.

• One thing I heard …my phone buzzing a LOT with text messages - ones that made me smile....and a picture of a very cute little girl with a tooth missing :)  

• One thing I touched today was…Abigails hair and cheek.  She was sleeping on the bed beside me this afternoon and I was stroking her hair and cheek and kissing her cheek while she was asleep :)  She's still so little even though she's almost ten!  :)  

• One thing I tasted …the pulled pork I made for dinner which was amazingly good - I cooked in bbq sauce with Guinness YUMMY!!!  :)  with yummy buns :)  

• One pleasant smell I had today was…the smell of Sams cough and cold syrup - even though he didn't like it lol!