While I am not sad to see January pass by into my rearview mirror, the last week treated me well with many happy things. I know for some of you reading January kicked your butt to the curb. I’m sorry. It’s not the way anyone wants to start a new year and I hope the coming months offer a reprieve from the various tensions and challenges you’re facing.
Onward and upward.
This week I’m going to stick with rapid-fire happy things. Buckle up.
- Greeting John inside the airport. I usually wait outside, but had to do my interview for Nexus/TSA Pre. It was a special thrill to see my sweet love fresh off the plane.
- Speaking of Nexus/TSA Pre…the couple waiting to be interviewed after me had driven HOURS to get to the airport and didn’t realize they needed to bring their passports. To be fair, it didn’t say anything about bringing passports to the interview but at the last minute I tossed mine into my purse. Phew. A very unhappy thing for them, but a happy thing for me that I had what I needed to complete that part of my application.
- Lots of fun things around the blogosphere. Kae was Sarah’s guest on this week’s episode of Best Laid Plans to discuss all things digital planning, Birchie welcomed a new Doggo into her household (the future is now!), Nicole just got back from a Mexican paradise, and Jan shared some heartwarming stories from her school author visits.
- Speaking of Kae, she slipped two bookmarks in with her Christmas card. Could they be more perfect? Look at that lighthouse! I use it to mark my place in my Bible and now think of Kae every single morning.
- We had a snow day. It wasn’t my favourite but there were some redeeming moments. Most notably a 2-hour spa hosted by my 12-year-old. It included hair, nails, and a facial (she blindfolded me during the manicure – french tips but with gold instead of white).
- The same day L spent almost SEVEN hours outside with friends and they had at least three, but perhaps four (who’s counting?), rounds of hot chocolate.
- We sold our car! It served us well for nearly 9 years but it was showing its age (remember when it wouldn’t TURN OFF?), so it was exciting to send it off to a new home.
- L had his first friend sleepover. His bestie just turned 9 and they celebrated with outdoor skating, pizza, a movie, and then a sleepover. He loved it, but admitted they stayed up “very late” (10:30 pm!) and “laughed…a lot!“.
- Watching football (I was rooting for the Ravens and Lions, so not exactly great results), eating nachos with the family, and just…chilling on Sunday night.
- Our fuel provider filled the wrong tank (propane – which didn’t need filling – instead of oil – which did need filling), so we’re getting the propane top-up for free!
- I finished a complete month of yoga. I am so proud of myself and there are stars to prove it. Flexibility has been a long-term issue for me and I’m so glad I stuck with it. Yesterday I started another thirty-day program (Center) and plan to work through that in February. Also, tracking daily workouts with stickers is really fun!
- Happy Thing 1. Our 2023 photobook arrived. Happy Thing 2. The kids LOVE looking through this book which makes the effort all worth it and then some.
- Another day at the ski hill. The kids had an in-service this week, so A and I hit the slopes, fitting in almost 20 runs. One of A’s close school chums showed up, so they were thick as thieves zooming down the hills and ignoring me completely.
- Corporate taxes have been filed. Let me repeat, corporate taxes have been filed. Now I just have to wait for the official notice and pay 🙁
- My dad stopped by for a coffee and a chat after school one day.
- My parents hosted the kids for supper one night this week; when I arrived, my dad was looking all over the house to find the kids who were playing Hide and Seek. He was flummoxed. I told him about a little cubby under the stairs so he walked down and looked in – with what I thought was fairly good attention – and eventually declared they weren’t there. Important fact: this is a cubby that is at EYE LEVEL, zero bending was required. Anyhoo, eventually we had to go so I called the kids and guess where they popped out from. Both were in the cubby. It warmed my heart that a) they were playing Hide and Seek and b) my dad didn’t find them…because isn’t it just the best feeling when someone looks where you’re hiding and doesn’t find you?
And that’s a wrap. I hope your week ahead is full of many happy things and, if not, there will be a time after this.
Your turn. Highlights from your week? Lowlights? Did you enjoy Hide and Seek as a kid? Do you like tracking “streaks”? Have you ever forgotten an important piece of paperwork at an inopportune time?
Coree
My accomplishment for the YEAR is for hiding in our 1000-square-foot house… it took my husband and son 15 minutes to find me. The spot? The bath! They looked in the bathroom and the boiler cupboard but didn’t walk towards the bath. One I put a big box on my head and tucked myself behind a pile of laundry baskets.
When my son found me (because I giggled), he said “you must teach me how to be such a good hider…”
Elisabeth
Well done, Coree! It really is exciting to manage to hide for longer than expected (and in 1000 sq ft, it’s EXTRA impressive).
Maybe you could pitch a Hide and Seek class to be added to your university repertoire. Your son would attend 🙂
sarah
Love the spa day– what a delight 🙂
Elisabeth
It was great (even if I was a bit angsty about the snow day). I could just lay there and be quiet which was blissful.
Kyria @ Travel Spot
That is so fun that you met John inside the airport. I can’t remember the last time that has happened to me. In fact, the last time I did it may have been 2004, when I was living in London and I took the tube to meet a friend at the airport…has it really been that long!? Was that changed after 9/11? I can’t really remember. I do remember flying to France in 1999 and my parents came with me all the way to the gate!!! Those days have changed eh? I also flew alone when I was a kid and I am guessing that my parents probably waited at the gate with me and my grandma was probably on the other side (at the gate). Seems like ages ago.
I love your manicure! My friend’s then 6 year old once did my hair and it was fabulous; she is now 9 and is not as interested in doing it, but she used to do all kinds of twists and loops and it is fun to get pampered and prodded! I have never put honey on my face; how did A know to do that? Is that something you guys do regularly?
Happy things! I had a gorgeous run on Tuesday when the weather was nice; it was so nice that I did extra miles! It was so fun to watch the surfers and stare at the GG bridge in the sunshine. It makes me realize what a beautiful place I live in.
Elisabeth
It was actually a purchased honey mask (one of her friends gave it to her for Christmas) so I’m sure there were other ingredients?
Yes, I remember being able to go to the gate. I didn’t do that, but I was inside the airport which I…can’t remember when I did it last???
Thanks for the video of the surfers even if it did make my mildly sad about our snow and sub-zero temps. Summer is coming for us, I know that…until then, I’ll keep popping my Vitamin D3 and heating up Magic Bags.
Lindsay
Oh, to get all the way there and not have the right paperwork! It just grabbed my anxious soul! I am working on being more of a streaker (habit, wise) and love seeing all your gold stars. It must feel so good to have this visual representation of your progress. And, those gold tips are awesome! Highlight from the week is finding 3 cardigans in good shape to mix into my return to office wardrobe (one even had the tags still on it)… I am trying out a system to make sure I don’t wear the same outfits on the same days of the week after someone called me out on it a few years ago and having some additional top layers will make all the difference!
Elisabeth
I am a paper planner at heart, so having the paper calendar and then adding stars to it was just what I needed to motivate me through one of my least favourite months of the year.
Yay for finding those cardigans!
Colleen Martin
I would definitely need a chart and gold stars to stick with yoga for a whole month…and my body could use some stretching….so you are inspiring me!
Elisabeth
It was really great. I especially appreciated that the series this year was always under 30 minutes long. And yes, the gold stars were a great motivator.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Why yes this has been a good week.
My podcast listening is down due to Puppy Mom duties, but I did make time to listen to Kae’s BLP episode and it was fabulous. I think I might be moving some of my Excel file over to Google tasks.
Congrats on a month of stars!
Elisabeth
Yay for being on Puppy Duty because of what that represents <3
Jenny
I love “Happy Things Friday!”
I listened to the podcast episode with Kae- SO fun to hear her voice. Yes, there were lots of fun things in the blogging world this week, and also some sad things- people are going through hard times! I think most of us are pretty happy to see a new month.
I actually bought gold star and dot stickers to add to my planner (gold stars for getting enough sleep and dots for completing Knees Over Toes exercises) but neglected to use them for the entire month of January, ahem. So, I’m inspired by this post and I will get them our today. GREAT job on the yoga last month!
Sounds like your kids had a pretty great week- skiing, spa days, sleepovers… it must feel good to see them so happy.
Elisabeth
Thanks, Jenny. I almost didn’t get around to writing a post but I told John: people will worry something has happened to me! It is a big mood boost to look back over the week and look for the highlights.
It was SO fun to hear Kae’s voice.
Oh I love that you have star and dot stickers. Yay. We can be tracking twins <3
Trust me there were some tough kid/parenting moments. So imagine lots of sighing and angst. But I hope they (well, a certain tween in particular) remember all the good bits more than the less-fun.
J
Oh, that pre-check story is sad, how frustrating for those people! I’m glad you had your passport with you. My travel credit card has a pre-check/global entry benefit, where they pay the fee for you. So I signed up, payed the fee (which they reimbursed), filled out all of the paperwork, and then could not get an appointment. They didn’t have any available for something like 3 years. If I had known that earlier, I would have signed up for pre-check instead, those are much easier. Someone said you could just show up and they would interview you, so I tried that but it didn’t work out for me. They were completely booked and not taking walk ins. Then I found out that after an international flight, you can have your interview while you’re at the customs area, so I planned to do that when I came home from France in 2022. They closed 1/2 hour before our flight landed. Sigh. I may try again at some point, but I’m not sure how long my paperwork is valid. I don’t even know why I did it. What are the chances of my traveling alone overseas? If my family doesn’t have it, they would have to go through security anyway. Oh well.
That bookmark is PERFECT for you, and your Bible is beautiful. Your coffee with your dad makes me wistful.
I enjoy your good things Friday posts, thank you. <3
Elisabeth
I still have to interview when I get to the US the next time (argh – our flight to Barcelona does not connect through the US), but I have five years. Plus, when we’re traveling with the kids they can’t come with us but need their own Nexus cards and I have NOT gotten to that yet (as-is, it took me a year to get an interview – why? It seriously took less than 5 minutes since all the paperwork gets filled out before). Anyhoo. Yes, it’s a shmozzle. When John did his years ago he only had to interview in Canada and then because his renewal came during COVID, he didn’t have to do anything! No interview, no new application. Lucky duck.
Aw. It really warms my heart more than you know when people say they enjoy these posts <3
And yes - a perfect bookmark and I specifically picked out a pretty Bible. Little aesthetics matter to me; why not choose beautiful?
Jan Coates
Lots of good things in your January – love it! And thanks for the pings to my blog:) You did really well with the yoga – I probably missed a handful of sessions, but I’ll probably go back to Day 1 and do it all over again in February because I did really enjoy that 25 minutes of Flow. Let me know if you want to have a coffee date. We leave Feb. 27th.
Elisabeth
I’ll aim to touch base next week.
I was shocked how much I enjoyed the yoga practice. And love that it can easily be used again (I plan to repeat the Flow series another month – at least – in 2024).
Nicole MacPherson
Look at all those yoga stars!
Omg, imagine being those people with the precheck. I would just lie down on the floor and die. Maybe not die. But definitely I would lie down on the floor and cry. When I had to do Nexus the boys were young, and we were all getting our cards. Maybe 2013? Anyway, I took them to the airport to do the check – my husband did it at a separate time – and because our last names are different, it was a huge issue. HUGE. I had brought their birth certificates but they were not “long form” birth certificates – but those were not something I…have? I don’t even know how one gets such a thing. Anyhoo, they were really quite curt with me and were like “if you’re taking your children out of the country you need permission from their father” which…okay, yes, I know but we were only getting our Nexus? And then I had to PHONE R and have him talk to the Nexus people, and they asked the boys – who were young! – lots of questions about their dad, and they acted like I was abducting my children AND WE WERE NOT EVEN GOING ANYWHERE. It was so weird and stressful, but eventually we all got cards, the end. Oh, but now my older son is having trouble renewing his because the email address we used for him was his school email address, and of course he doesn’t have that one anymore, tl;dr what a process.
Unrelated to Nexus, your SKIN is amazing, maybe I need a honey mask.
Elisabeth
WHAT A PROCESS. That sounds horrible, Nicole, and I am not looking forward to getting the kids cards (thankfully we all share a last name at this point!).
The honey mask was lovely! She sweetly shared it from her stash.
Lisa's Yarns
You guys have had so many snow days this year! We haven’t had a single one. We have had so little snow this year. I would actually like a bit so I could take the boys sledding. But we are having this strangely moderate winter. I don’t hate it but don’t love what it means for our planet…
This was a very long week but I am proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and being so so so social at the sales conference. That is not in my nature and takes a lot of internal pep talks but I did it. I’m glad I won’t have to do it for another year though!!
Elisabeth
We have…and we’re in the middle of another big storm so I’m expecting Monday to be cancelled. Oh well. We do live in Canada after all!
I am so proud of you. As an introvert I know how hard it is/how much energy it takes. Gold stars, Lisa <3 And I hope you have a wonderful, restorative weekend.
Grateful Kae
Awww I’m so glad you liked the bookmarks!! And that they’re getting good use in your morning Bible time. 🙂
I second what Nicole said: YOUR SKIN! How is it soooo flawless??!? Omg. Mine looks like an absolute mess next to yours. 😩 You’re doing something right! Or exceptional genes, lol!
And way to go on the yoga!! Woohoo! I bet that feels good. I also love the idea of the little stickers for checking those days off. Keep it up!
Elisabeth
The bookmarks are awesome (the other one is in L’s Action Bible).
Um…as you know, I do officially nothing to my skin. I use coconut oil to remove makeup (occasionally) but usually just a microfiber makeup remover cloth with warm water and the only other thing I put on my skin is coconut oil. That’s it!
The yoga feels SO good. I cannot believe how much I’m enjoying it. I now literally crave it every day. Maybe a year streak is in the works?
coco
I really admire you single parent for so many days in a year and still so supportive of John. What’s your secret? When I travel for work I always feel guilty to leave the house to husband to handle alone.
I love your manicure, definitely a happy thing! I’m getting my manicure this weekend, super excited.
Kae is the best, right? such a cute bookmark.
Ski, this is something my girls are yet to try, hopefully soon when we move out of the tropical country.
Elisabeth
Hmm. I don’t know if I have a secret, but trying to make things as streamlined as possible. It definitely helps as the kids get older because they can do more things independently.
Shelly
What a lovely week!
I can’t imagine driving hours and not having the right information. When we travel I’m always a bit anxious in keeping track of passports and ensuring we don’t forget them.
I did a nice week away in Cancún and then had our flight home cancelled the day we were to come back.
I know being “stuck” in a beautiful place doesn’t sound bad. But we had work and school to get back to you. It took us four days to find our way back. The worst was the zero communication from the airline who didn’t seem to care that they stranded a whole flight. We did make it back with a layover in Calgary. That was my January shenanigans.
Elisabeth
FOUR days. Yikes. That is ridiculous and sounds extremely stressful. I’m glad you’re home, but I’m sure it left you very frazzled 🙁
San
Well, as you know I am the queen of tracking streaks! Haha. So, YES to all of it.
I am so glad you were able to go skiing again with A, and how lovely to have your dad stop by for coffee. If only my dad could just “stop by”, sigh. (Treasure these moments. I know you do!)
Elisabeth
I do treasure them, but I wish everyone were so fortunate. I’m so glad you’ll be able to see your parents again this year!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Your week sounds lovely.
I might have missed it but what is that Pre-TSA thing? Never heard of it.
That hide and seek story was hilarious and took me right back to my childhood.
We used to play hide and seek in the dark. Which was so fun because you could use different spots and stand just behind a door in the shade. Or lay on a dark sofa. I remember once my littlest sister was inside the laundry basket and then my dad went to the bathroom. A long time. after like 20 min or so she jumped out and scared him half to death. Fun moments.
Also very impressed with your workout plan and the stars. I think I will print my schedules and start putting stickers or colored hearts or something. It is visually pleasing and also much more motivating.
Elisabeth
It makes getting through airport security and customs much faster!
The stickers are surprisingly motivating 🙂
Ally Bean
Am I the only blogger here among bloggy friends who didn’t do yoga with Adriene in January? Was there a memo I missed? Gracious y’all make me feel like a slug, which I am of course, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have tried to join in! 😁
Elisabeth
Ha. I think there were only a few of us, but it was such a great program and I genuinely loved the experience. It’s not too late to join in; I’m doing Center now, and will re-do the Flow series in March or April.
NGS
I love the spa day! My nieces like to do my makeup and nails and who am I to tell them no? It won’t last forever, will it?
I have been doing a lot of yoga recently. It has been better for my mental health than physical, but it’s all related and if the only thing I can be motivated to do is queue up a video and listen to Adriene spout about the virtues of yoga, then that’s all I can do. Ha. I’ll get back into strength/cardio at some point, I guess. I’ve never actually done one of her 30-day challenges in real time, so I find you doing that SUPER impressive. LOOK AT ALL THOSE GOLD STARS!!
Elisabeth
You are so right, Engie. This will not last forever.
It was really fun to do it in real time because there was ZERO pressure to get ahead. Since each new video only drops day-of, I couldn’t “get ahead” to let myself take a day off later in the month.
Stephany
Way to go on the yoga challenge! There is something so satisfying about marking everything off using stars/stickers. I’ve been tracking daily habits with this little planner I have that has a space for 6 daily habits, and it is so satisfying to mark it off when I’ve done it! This week was the first week when I got almost 100% on my habits, which was really exciting!
A spa day sounds GREAT. You get to enjoy a facial and a manicure without any of the work? Sign me up!
Elisabeth
I know – and a FREE facial and manicure at that!
Anne
The spa days are such a lovely idea – I am so glad you are appreciating them for what they are right now, and recognizing that this, too, will not last.
<3 that you had a drop in from your dad, and the hide-and-seek story is hilarious. I particularly like everyone's responses, above, highlighting their own hide-and-seek prowess. 😉