New School Year- New Goals!

It's not all about the cat!

 Look at the date!  It's been less than a week since my last post and I am hoping that this will be a weekly event.  It is Saturday night here in Kuwait. I have been here for less than 24 hours, and slept for at least twelve of them.  It is hot.  The AC is not working and I have had several "technicians in and out, but no luck yet.  Keeping cool with a cup of green tea and a wet towel around my neck. The cat, as you can see, is very much alive. She has cried a lot since I have been here; her way of saying "Meow I missed you!"

The day before leaving for Kuwait, I had my teeth cleaned by my dear friend from elementary days, Muriel. She is an independent Dental Hygienist working in west Ottawa on Preston Street. Not only did I have the dental job done, but I joined  Muriel for a walk to a beautiful Thai restaurant, where we caught up with one another's lives (after all it's been more than a year since we chatted) and immensely enjoyed our food and drink. After dinner we went to an Italian bistro for a latte. Although tempted, I skipped dessert, for obvious reasons. This got me thinking about some of my goals for the school year- Goal #1- Stay in touch with friends and Goal #2- FLOSS!

I am so proud of my friend Muriel- almost 40 years as a dental hygienist! 

 My final morning in Canada was spent at home finishing the final packing for travel to Kuwait. My dear husband waited patiently while I checked and double checked for the essentials- passport, Kuwait identification card, toothbrush and floss, sweater and socks for the flight. I said bye bye to dear Mika, loaded the truck and set off to Ottawa to meet my favourite brother for breakfast at Joe's Pizza. No kidding, that is the name of the best breakfast restaurant in his area of Ottawa. Thanks Rick for the breakfast! Goal #3- Stay in touch with family

Now the trip was one of the best I have experienced. After clearing US customs in Ottawa, it was the waiting game. My husband had arranged for my laptop to be cleaned,( while I was having my teeth cleaned),so I was able to putter around on the web, keep track of the Olympics, and enjoy a cup of Tim's. Goal #4- Take better care of technology (laptop, iPad, iPhone, Kindle) and Goal #5- Cut back on coffee consumption

I boarded the plane to Newark and enjoyed the hour trip to Newark airport, just outside of New York City. The three hour layover there passed quickly and with no need to change terminals, I walked for an hour, then settled in to a lovely glass of Pinot Grigio while watching the end of the women's soccer match and the beginning of a men's. Goal #6- Cut back on pinot. 

The second plane ride of the day was a bit late departing Newark, but arrived only a few minutes late in Frankfurt. Upon landing I thought I had picked up some type bug...upset stomach, cramps, and a horrendous headache. It could have been the six hour flight with no bathroom break- window seat- or it could have been the pinot. Long story short, I found a quiet place to lie down and sleep, and woke up with some relief. Happily when I arrived at the gate, a colleague and her friend were waiting for the same flight. Fortunately, he had some extra strength headache medication, which helped. Big thanks to Mike and Hannah! Again, it was a three hour layover, and spent the time walking around, browsing the duty free shops, and a monitoring the Facebook chatter.

Plane number three out of Frankfort had me seated at the back of the plane in an aisle seat, I was happy to be able to get up and go when the need arose. I watched two different inspirational films, both which told the stories of about athletes who overcame great odds- tennis player Althea Gibson and diver Greg Louganis.

Tennis Star Althea Gibson

Greg Louganis is an accomplished athlete, LGBT rights activist, mentor to US divers, and auther

Goal #7- Must read this book!

Now, back to present day...I arrived in Kuwait at around 8 p.m. The line for passport control was extremely large; however, I was so impressed with the courtesy of the other travelers. When my turn came, I was stamped and then able to collect my luggage, which came out almost immediately. The taxis were also available and I was in the apartment by 9:30 pm.

After a bit of unpacking, I decided to get to sleep at 11 pm, thinking I would get up at 7 am and go for a swim. Not to be!  I did not even hear the alarm. A headache woke me up at 10:30 and after a black coffee and about a litre of water, I fell back asleep until noon. I noticed the apartment was a little warm and despite being on, it appeared that the air conditioning was not working. I fiddled with the settings, but could not get the temperature to drop below 27.5. As I write, I am awaiting the technician. Goal #8- Practice patience

In the meantime, I checked out what food was left in the apartment, and was pleased to find some vanilla ice cream and pita bread in the freezer, plus plenty of tea and peanut butter in the cupboard.
Goal #9- Shop for groceries tomorrow morning. 

If you know me, you probably realize that I like change. The rest of the day was spent moving furniture. The apartment is quite small and its furnishings are quite big, plus I had acquired some extra "things", so it was necessary to reorganize. The result is what you see below.  Goal #10- Get rid of (give away or sell) some of the extra things that are not being used. 

The dining room/den

The bedroom/workout room

The living room (TV in the corner)

The reading corner (and cat)

The cozy kitchen/laundry room- fridge is in the corner

That is the end of the apartment tour, the end of the goals (almost), and the end of this blog post. I have landed. I am feeling refreshed after a lengthy trip. I have wonderful memories of summer holidays. Finally, I look forward to a new school year with a class of new children, a new and improved positive attitude, and a long list of promises to keep.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

PS The AC is now working. Present temperature is 25.5 C. YAY!

Procrastination

Here is a picture of what procrastination looks like:

This mess brought to you by procrastination!

This assortment of papers and containers and other materials includes Christmas cards as far back as 1987 (stored away to be used sometime, somewhere for a Christmas craft project at home or school), pencils, pens, markers, pictures, papers, booklets, brochures and other items that might just come in handy one day. As I sit overseeing it, I am thinking, Not only am I a procrastinator I am also a hoarder!

So the time has come to sort and re-sort, tidy and clean.  And today is the time.  My second day off in a row. The weather outside is cloudy, windy and rainy and I have run out of excuses. Today I will overcome the inertia within to tackle the tasks without. 

If you don't hear from me for a few days be sure that I am hard at it; if not momentarily, then perhaps after another cup of coffee....

Until next time, 

Bee Rich

Ahhhhh!

Procrastination definition: to put off something out of habitual carelessness or laziness 

(-on line Free Dictionary)

She is Always on my Mind!

          This morning I woke up with the blues.  Really blue!  It was 5 a.m.  My alarm went off, "brrrrrring, brrrrrrring, brinnnnng" and I rolled over.  I was going back to sleep.  But then as small voice in my head said, Get up and get moving!          It is now 5:55 a.m.  The coffee is on, the first cup is downed, emails are checked, facebook messages read, and still I am waiting for the call to supply teach.  So far, no call.  Probably, it is not going to happen today!  After all, occasional teaching is occasional. So, on to plan B. 
          For days like today, I need a list of things to do.  Yesterday I tidied the house, went for a ski on the lake, made a casserole of super duper macaroni, visited with a neighbour, and walked the dogs several times.  I also had a discussion with my husband about the need for more pictures of our daughter in our living room.  On the mantle above the fireplace are many pictures of other family members, but only one our our daughter, and that is as part of our son's wedding.
          So today, I am going to root through pictures, maybe organise them like my friend Mary, and select the best to print and place on the mantle.  Just for starters, here is her latest facebook profile picture.  What do you think? I know that I no longer have the blues!!!

Some fun in the sun!

Until tomorrow!

Bee Rich
         

Mid-November Days Off



MONDAY
          Today the temperature outside reads 15 degrees C!  Although it is mid-November, we have been given a day in the sun. My husband has gone for the day to work outside at my mom's (he is taking down their very old and dilapidated swimming pool deck). 
          And I am home! It got me thinking about all the teaching days in the past where I longed to be at home.  I remember thinking to myself, what would I do if I had a day at home? So without really thinking, I got busy and here is the list of my do s
         

• Bake an extra-large banana chocolate chip cake
• Attempted to order gifts online
• Bathed the dogs
• Mailed a gift to a friend
• Shopped for a few groceries to make date cookies
• Finished the laundry
• Read the paper
• Drank a pot of coffee
• Watched the birds and squirrels dine on seeds
• Made lunch and dinner for people
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Fell asleep on the big comfy chair!

TUESDAY  
          It is not quite so warm today.  It is supposed to be sunny, with a high of 12 degrees C. Yesterday was busy and today I hope to accomplish almost as much.  My husband and brother-in-law are on their way to appointments in Ottawa and I chose to stay home for some alone time. Nice. Whether or not there is someone around, I will remain occupied and content.  My list of To Do's is below and tomorrow I will write a status report.

• Vacuum, dust and clean the entire house
• Bake date cookies
• Feed the birds and squirrels
• Finish the laundry (again)
• Walk the dogs
• Make lunch for me
• Drink a pot of tea
• Vacuum the Jeep
• Find the Christmas decorations in the crawl space
• Make dinner
• Clean the kitchen
• Go for a swim
• Fall asleep...

          I am so thankful to be here, in this place, today.  Yesterday is over. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. Today is for living!

Until next time,

Bee Rich

Our daughter's comfy chair and doggy!