Dare2Diva is Grateful

An early morning wake up to drive out west to meet my homeschool family as the 10yr old boy was going to do his first piano exam. It was so exciting. Being a homeschool child, the pressures of tests, unfamiliar surroundings etc aren't experienced so it was great to see him go in, looking cool calm and collected, even though he was quite nervous. He did really well. I couldn't have asked for anything better from him. I could hear him play and he played beautifully and his mark reflected that. I don't stress the importance of getting the top marks, although he did, because to me, it is important that the kids put in the work and try their best. I have said to all my students, I am happier with a student that gets a C grade that has put in the effort all year and tried their best than I am with a student who hasn't practiced much but can just play well, and they get an A. Now his little sister can't wait to do her exam. This is a great thing but not so good for me or t

Where on earth is Noah and his mighty big boat when you need him? It has been pouring with rain and walking on the grass is like walking on wet cement. Squishy, cold, sticky and just horrible. I decided to brave the rain and go to my closest very large shopping center/mall and check out the apparent 'amazing sales'. I say apparent because everything I wanted to look at was not on sale but I did get out and I did manage to participate in the activity for 2 hours straight with no rest periods and no freak outs. Yay for me. I do ache all over now though. The cold combined with 2hours of traipsing around a shopping center when the most exercise I have done is 30mins at a stretch is reeking havoc with my toes and ankles. Yes, my toes. The ones that I have broken more times than I care to remember, are really sore. My hands also hurt but not because of exercise. They are just cold. I seem to be complaining quite a bit but it was a good day so here are the things I am grateful for.

All I can say is good grief. I am quite cranky right now but I won't let that get in the way of what has been a reasonable day. I have had some positive news and if I pass the medical and police checks I will be very close to having a new job. I got myself off to bed last night at a reasonable hour because I knew I had to be up early to get ready for my expedition into the city. I had just dozed off when my father bursts into my room saying he is having a heart attack. Mind you he was burping like crazy and was a good colour which told me to check everything I could before getting an ambulance to rush him to hospital. He had taken his blood pressure 5 times and 'it was really high'. Ok, it was a bit high for him but normally he is on the low side of normal. His pulse was up but lower than most healthy 20yr olds and whilst he had the cuff on yet again to check his BP, I got him some over the counter stuff for indigestion, gave that to him, got him burping even more and just

Another teaching day today but I wasn't as thrilled today as usual. It wasn't a bad teaching day but I just didn't have my usual enthusiasm, although the kids didn't notice because they were a little under the weather and were less than enthusiastic themselves. I had another night of tossing and turning and while I know that this will pass, the cloud hanging over me the last couple of days is making it hard not to worry. I am finding my thought processes are slower again and when my thought processes are slower, I find that it is only my rational processes that slow allowing the 'not so good thoughts' to creep in. I am doing my best to ignore this which in itself is really exhausting but I shall press on. I have decided to explain a little more why I substitute God with Universe. I have attended church, church schools, had/have friends from a number of faiths and the minute you mention God, you are asked to justify your meaning of God since one religions versi

I woke up feeling horrible this morning. I didn't want to get out of bed and I just felt as though a black cloud had shat all over me. I didn't think it would be such a great idea to teach today so I moved the kids to tomorrow (one of the many benefits of teaching home school kids). I did get out of bed and had a cup of tea. This is a good step for me. I normally would have stayed in bed feeling the way I did/do but I didn't. I can't afford to let myself fall back down. I have to keep climbing even if I slip a bit like today. This climbing is so exhausting but necessary. To top my day off, I received a phone call, which according to all accounts was going to be a great one and it turned out not to be. In the past and again today I have been told I am too exuberant, bright and bubbly, too experienced, too classy, too understated, too enthusiastic, not enthusiastic enough, not appearing resilient enough. For F#@k sake. I am more than capable and whilst they acknowledge th

Wow, today has gone quickly. This is a good thing actually. The weather really is quite miserable and being stuck inside without anything to do could be quite torturous. I am so blessed that I have been able to borrow a friends sewing machine until I can afford to purchase one myself. I have done some sewing today and I have really enjoyed it. I have made 3 bag shells and i just need to do the finishing off and then I am done. Really excited and really happy with what I have done and surprised that they look so good for such little effort in the grand scheme of things. I had another sleepless night last night but I am not going to worry about that at this point. I am confident that the sewing has occupied my mind enough today to get rid of excess brain power and the 30mins of walking back and forth in my office today has gotten rid of the excess physical energy, so sleep shouldn't be too much of a problem tonight. Universe 1) I am grateful that my bedroom seemed to be quite warm

I had another night of sleep difficulties but I did eventually get to sleep and woke up rested. Although the weather is wet and cold at the moment, I plan on getting in some exercise tomorrow. I have been slack in getting in my 30mins every day since I had that month of hell pain. No more excuses. The exercise will get me back into a decent sleeping pattern again in no time. I am so lucky that I don't lie awake all night thinking about doom and gloom so all I need to do is get rid of the excess energy and sleep will happen again. Universe 1) I am grateful that I am not worrying about my sleep issues. I know this means that firstly I am on the way out of my very dark hole but it also means that it will be easy to sort out and will only be temporary. 2) I am grateful for the chili weather at the moment. I usually complain about the cold and. well, winter isn't my favourite time of year because of the cold, but it makes getting housework done so much more pleasant. 3) I am gr