This is a really cool blog that was actually made into a book. Unfortunately now, since it was made into a book I can't find the complete list online. The link below has over 500 though so there are alot of awesome things to read about. If you haven't read it you need to check it out!
http://1000awesomethings.com/the-top-1000/
It takes quite awhile to read through it so you might want to do it in a couple of sittings. I know my neck and back were starting to get sore by the time I was done reading through it.
Ken and I decided to try to pick our top 5 from the list. It is really hard though. Here are 5 of my favourites on the list but if I looked through it again I'm sure I would find more to add:
Mel:
1)Finding money you didn't even know you lost
2)Sleeping in new bed sheets (even better with freshly washed pj's)
3)Using all the different soaps and shampoos in someone else's shower
4)When you are really tired and about to fall asleep and someone throws a blanket on you
5) The sound of scissors cutting construction paper (reminds me of my elementary school teachers)
There were so many more that I wanted to add. As I was doing my list of 5 I actually subsituted in and out of it quite a few times!
One of the things on the list was "getting something with actual handwriting on it in the mail". I thought that was interesting because that is what I was writing about in the blog on Thursday!! Yay, me!
Ken:
I found these things to be my favorites on this list. I read the list but it was really hard to make it down it. The 5 I chose were near the top of the list because I could not change them. I would have made a list of about 2 or 300 if I would have chosen all the ones I wanted. You will see when you start reading it that this happens to you.
1. Finding money you think you lost
2. Planning for snoozes
3. Eating cookies like a cookie monster
4. Doing anything that makes you feel like a caveman
5. The 5 second rule
**We wanted to let you know that Ken didn't read my list before he wrote his. I think it is cool that we picked one of the same ones out of 500
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 115 (April 25, 2010): The Antique Mall
Today Mel and I went to the antique mall and saw a lot of cool things and very nice furniture. Mel saw a few wine glasses that could match her set that she received from her grandma. She also saw some antique jewelry that she is dreaming about. I saw a jersey from Eric Desjardins that he wore in the Montreal Canadiens farm team, the Fredricton Canadiens. He was one of my favorite players as a kid. I saw some cool German knives from WWII.
http://www.oldstrathconamall.com/
Day 114 (April 24, 2010): Massages
Today was an awesome day. Mel and I went to get massages. I loved this day. We hadn’t gone for massages since some time last fall. We don’t “spoil” ourselves very often. I unfortunately woke up to strep throat or a viral infection the Dr. is not sure. The massages were awesome none the less. Strep throat or not I was gonna enjoy the massage.
Day 113 (April 23, 2010): Car Show
Today Mel and I went with our friend Andrew Premo to the car show at the northlands. We saw lots of old cars and some new ones. There was a vote at the end and I voted for the ’32 ford roadster. It was a sweet car. Then I saw a new F-350 dually 4x4. Now that’s a damn truck if I ever saw one. Premo had a good time and got a t-shirt that he always wanted from So-Cal. All in all it was a good evening out. We ended it by stopping by the Boston Pizza and having some wings watching the hockey game. Mel’s thoughts: It was nice hanging out with Ken and Premo and looking at all the shinny cars, lol. I am not much of a car person so for me the best part was just the company.
Day 112 (April 22, 2010): Ken-volunteering, Mel-thank you card
Today I had a fun time playing kickball with some of the neighbourhood kids in Millwoods. It was supposed to be police and firefighters but there were not enough officers available so Mel asked me to help out and I really enjoy sports so there was no question. It was really fun. I had an incident while I was going to eat. I was using the relish squirt container and as I was squeezing it, it blasted a whole bunch all over the bun and this kid that was standing next to me busted out laughing. We had a good laugh about it .
Mel: Today I did something that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. It wasn’t really an activity though. I decided to write a Thank You card to someone that I really appreciate. I am not going to write about this person or what I was thanking them for but I will write about the experience. In the past few weeks I have heard a couple of conversations and a bit on the radio about how manners are not what they used to be. In fact, I actually heard someone talking about how people don’t hand write letters or Thank You cards anymore. Someone had a dinner party and they received a Thank You card in the mail from one of their guests a few days after the party. They talked about how nice it was to be acknowledged after the fact for the experience that they created for their guests including the time and effort that was put in. So, with that in mind I decided to acknowledge this person who is so thoughtful and considerate in my life with a hand written card. It is funny but by expressing my feelings in the card and giving specific examples of what they do that I appreciate, I felt a bit vulnerable. However, I know from my education and work that taking risks with your emotions is one way to cultivate stronger relationships so I am glad that I did it.
Mel: Today I did something that I’ve been thinking about for awhile. It wasn’t really an activity though. I decided to write a Thank You card to someone that I really appreciate. I am not going to write about this person or what I was thanking them for but I will write about the experience. In the past few weeks I have heard a couple of conversations and a bit on the radio about how manners are not what they used to be. In fact, I actually heard someone talking about how people don’t hand write letters or Thank You cards anymore. Someone had a dinner party and they received a Thank You card in the mail from one of their guests a few days after the party. They talked about how nice it was to be acknowledged after the fact for the experience that they created for their guests including the time and effort that was put in. So, with that in mind I decided to acknowledge this person who is so thoughtful and considerate in my life with a hand written card. It is funny but by expressing my feelings in the card and giving specific examples of what they do that I appreciate, I felt a bit vulnerable. However, I know from my education and work that taking risks with your emotions is one way to cultivate stronger relationships so I am glad that I did it.
Day 111 (April 21, 2010): The Blue Chair Cafe
Today Mel and I went to a short story competition at this small café/restaurant/bar. They call it a story slam. It was a new season and they have not done this for a while so it was a little late getting started and a little disorganized but once it got goin’ it went very smoothly. As for me, it was a little boring because I could not fast forward the stories I did not like. For the stories that I liked it was pretty good. There were some interesting stories of the history of the First Nations people of Western Canada. They do the competition once a year for 10 months and then in January they have all the winners come back for a final competition. That one would be good to go to. The Blue Chair Café is a really cool little place. They have a unique menu that we wished we could have sampled a bit more of. Unfortunately we were expecting more of like a coffee bar so we ate supper before we went. But we did have dessert which was awesome. We had a really big gooey chocolate chip cookie that was warmed up and had ice cream on it. Yum! We would like to go back to the Blue Chair sometime to see one of their Blues or Jazz bands and have a whole meal there.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Day 110 (April 20, 2010): Floam or Gazz-It
There is this stuff called Floam that I tried to get for Ken and I to play with for one of our activities. A kid at work had it and I thought it was kind of neat. There was nothing like it when I was a kid. When I went to buy it I couldn't find the actual brand called "floam" like I had seen before. I had to buy the cheap knock off called "Gazz-It". It turns out that it wasn't as good as the Floam stuff but it was only $.99 so it wasn't a big expense. Ken and I had to work opposite shifts again today so I decided to make some creations with my Gazz-It in the morning and take pictures of them and then Ken would do the same when he got home from work. Here are our creations:
The first thing I made was a heart. When I took the stuff out of the container I noticed right away that it seemed to be more sticky than the Floam that I had touched previously. I found it a bit difficult to mold it into the shapes that I wanted so I stuck with easy shapes.
These are my hands.....look at how it is sticking to them. I was starting to get annoyed!
Next I made a snowman because the white foam balls just reminded me of snow. You can get this stuff in many different colours as well. I like the way the white foam glows when you use the flash on the camera.
This is what it looks like without the flash
Ken is much more creative than me and he made a goalie stick.
And a cat! I would not have had the patience to make a cat out of this stuff!
Ken is very creative. I can be creative too but I am a perfectionist so I often quell my creativity if something is not going EXACTLY the way I want it. The Gazz It was another example of that. Once I realized that I couldn't make complicated shapes like I had wanted I stuck to easy shapes that I could do well, lol.
Day 109 (April 19, 2010): Visit our local library
I have spent time in at least 3 other libraries in Edmonton that I can think of but never in the one in my own community. I did not know this but there are 17 branches of the Edmonton Public Library in different communities in our city. The Stratcona Branch, which is our community branch is a beautiful historical building. http://www.epl.ca/EPLBranchesDetail.cfm?id=strathcona
They did an awesome job of adding elevators and wheel chair access to the building while keeping the atmosphere of the old brick building. When I walked in I immediately felt comfortable. I could have stayed in there all day. They are two floors of this building that the library occupies. I am not sure what is on the top floor. I am currently in the middle of reading a book so I didn't borrow any books but I did look at a few things. Ken and I don't get the newspaper so I looked at that for awhile. Then I looked at some magazines. I think that buying magazines is a total waste of money but I do enjoy reading them sometimes so the library is a great place for me to be able to do that.
Ken and I worked very different hours today so I went to the libary in the morning and he went in the evening. He is planning a bear hunting trip for this spring so we can fill up our freezer again. He is interetested in learning how to tan hides as well so he looked for some information on that but didn't find any. Like me, he just checked out the building to see where things are and what is available at our local branch. He also brought home a magazine that lists all of the different events that the library puts on. They have tons of classes on things like geneology, gardening, how to be "green" etc. so we might check out some of those in the future for this project.
All in all, this was a really nice find. It is only a 10 minute walk from our house, it is a relaxing atmosphere and they have lots of services. We will be spending more time there.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
My Dilemma, I need your help!
I want to share some of my thoughts on our 365 day project and some dilemmas that I am having with it lately. I would love for our readers to give me some feedback on this. When Ken and I started this project we decided to do a “different” thing every day. It could include things that we have done before in our lives but they shouldn’t be “everyday” type things that we usually do. We wanted to try different things and learn different things. We also thought this would get us out of the house more and find cool things to do in Edmonton. We have kind of been making up the rules as we go along. For example, we felt that “going to the movie theatre” is something kind of common for people to do, although we rarely go there because it is so expensive, so even though we could go see different movies we would only count that once in our 365 days. (we might try out an alternative theatre like the Metro Cinema or The Garneau Theatre though, and those would be different things) However, going to the Theatre (like a live play) is not so common so if we had a chance to go to a couple of different plays we would do that, especially if they were different genres. So, as you can see we kind of make up the rules as opportunities present themselves. It can be kind of complicated though. If we went for a hike in the River Valley one day would it be okay to go for a hike somewhere else another day? OR If we tried a new food one day could we try a different new food another day? What it all comes down to though is, “who are we accountable to in regards to these rules?”. I guess the answer to that is ourselves and our readers. That is why we put the poll on our blog asking about carrying an activity, with different steps, over a couple of days. We want to know what YOU think. The dilemma that I have been having in the past few weeks is that I would really like to try some things like dance, cooking or art classes. The problem is that most of them happen over a few days or even several weeks. Ken and I both work full-time, we both go to the gym several days a week and our schedules are not exactly the same. If we added an evening dance or art class once a week it could make it REALLY difficult to do a different thing every day. However, I know that for myself if I was learning a new dance step or working on an art piece that every week would feel different to me and it would be a “different” experience than the week before. When we started this project it happened so fast and I knew that we would have difficulties but I didn’t expect them to be like this. The difficulty that I am having is that this year is supposed to be about experiencing new things and rediscovering old likes/dislikes. I feel like by following “our rules” we are missing out on opportunities to try other things throughout the year. The other side of the coin though is that at the end of the year I would really like to be able to say that we truly did a different thing every day. I am stuck. I just don’t know what to do about this!
Day 108 (April 18, 2010): River Valley Hike
Today we got up early, made a small lunch and went on a two hour hike in the river valley. We wore our pedometers to keep track of our steps. Before we left I was telling Ken how I find it hard to get the recommended 10,000 steps a day completed during an average day. He said that I would probably complete that during the hike. I didn’t think so! I was wrong! I told Ken that he could practice his future career of personal training on me today because I was missing my workout at the gym to go on this hike. So I wanted to get some cardio and strength training in. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? He kicked my butt! The 10 block walk to the valley was our warm up then we stretched and started some jogging/walking intervals then we found a park bench and did some tricep dips. Then we walked some more until we got to a rail that was about 100 yards (so says Ken, I don’t know these things!) and we walked on it like a balance beam. Next we were at the bottom of the Edmonton Ski Club and we walked up the steep hill. The walk up was like doing lunges the whole way up because it was so steep then at the top we jogged a bit and then did lunges, as if I hadn’t done enough up the hill, lol. Then we crossed the bridge to the south side of Connors Road and hiked up the hill.
This is me being tired after the jogging and lunges
View from the bridge
The view of the Muttart Conservatory from up above. We will go there for one of our 365 days this year.
View of downtown from the bridge
There is a look out up really high that I have always wanted to go to. Every time we drive by it I tell Ken that I would like to hike up there sometime. Today we DID IT! There were about a million steps to climb to get up to the top. Every time I thought we were almost at the top I would come to a platform on the step and realize that there was another flight. By the top my legs were burning and I was breathing really hard. It was an awesome workout!
The view of the Mill Creek Ravine below. It doesn't look that far down but it is a steep decline.
The view of the high level bridge and Epcor from where we were.
After we had a breather and took a couple of pictures we headed down a different way that I think was an animal trail, not a human trail. It was quite steep so we had to hold on to the willow trees to keep ourselves from sliding down the hill. This was a great workout too. We were now at the bottom of Mill Creek Ravine so we walked up the stairs and came out across the street from the Old Timers Cabin. We found a shady spot to have a bit to eat. It was really nice and peaceful. We walked the rest of the way home which is probably 30 blocks. It was such an awesome hike and great workout. I felt amazing afterwards. I told Ken that we should try to do it every weekend. At the end of it all I had walked 10, 748 steps and Ken had walked 8,844. I have a much shorter stride than him.
Day 107 (April 17, 2010): The Glass Menagerie
Today we went to the theatre in the afternoon. We have gone to the theatre twice before this year. We went to see “Wingfield’s Lost and Found” which was a comedy that we both thoroughly enjoyed and “Chicago” the musical that I loved and Ken thought was “good”, lol. I got the tickets to “The Glass Menagerie” through work. When I read about it the characters names were “Wingfield” so I thought that somehow it was related to the play we saw before. I’m still not sure if it is the same family in both of the plays or not but this play was not a comedy at all. It was actually quite heart-wrenching and tragic at times. One character in the play, the mother, was funny though. The actress in that role also did a tremendous job. “The Glass Menagerie” is a play by Tennesse Williams and even though I have limited knowledge of this genre of literature I did recognize his name from “A Streetcar Name Desire” so I was happy to finally see a play by him. I enjoyed the play but was not astonished by it like I was with “Chicago” or giddy after it like I was with “Wingfield’s Lost and Found”. It just didn’t leave much of an impression with me. I wouldn’t go see it again like I would with the other two.
Ken’s review: “I didn’t like it” He thought that it would have been better as a soap opera that went on for 20 years, lol.
Ken’s review: “I didn’t like it” He thought that it would have been better as a soap opera that went on for 20 years, lol.
Day 106 (April 16, 2010): I'm too old for this.......
Tonight we went to the Edmonton Rush game. We have season tickets and at every game they announce that the team is sponsored by the “Oil City Roadhouse” which is a popular country dance bar in Edmonton. It was the last game of the regular season tonight so we decided to head on down to Oil City Roadhouse after the game even though neither one of us is really into country music. With our game ticket stubs we were able to get in with no line and no cover charge so we thought, “what the heck, let’s go check it out”. This is REALLY different for us! It is not in line with any of our interests (other than the lacrosse team) or comfort zone, which I was about to find out. First I have to tell you what I was wearing. I had on a long sleeve black Edmonton Rush t-shirt, long black cargo pants, socks and shoes and I was also wearing a black hoodie over top of my shirt. When we got to the bar Ken had to go to the washroom and as I was standing by myself waiting for him I began to feel extremely uncomfortable. I mean this is no disrespectful way at all, but compared to what the other girls in the place were wearing I felt like someone who is part of a very conservative religion, perhaps Muslim. I felt like people were looking at me like I was a Muslim person in a bar, which is the last place that a Muslim person should be. Oil City Roadhouse is probably the last place I should have been, lol. The girls in the bar were dressed in the shortest skirts, lowest cut shirts and sleeziest clothes that I have seen in a very long time. And, they were all about 20 years old. There was the odd “cougar” who was older but they were dressed even more sleezy than the 20 somethings. Ken and I each got a pop, lol, that made us stick out even more because everyone else was either really drunk or on their way there. We sat a table for awhile, listened to the country music and people watched. The people watching was kind of entertaining but after about 45 minutes it got boring and we left. So that was our experience……..it certainly was different than something we would normally do! So, what did I learn from this.......I'm too old for that kind of bar and I am very happy with my life and glad that I don't have to dress up like that and try to run around from bar to bar in high heels while I'm half drunk!
Day 105 (April 15, 2010): Concert and Buying Flowers
I had to work late again tonight so Ken and I did separate activities. I bought myself flowers and Ken went to an Amon Amarth Concert.
Ken: Amon Amarth Concert: Hell yes, Amon Amarth pulled off yet another wicked concert. These guys play as good live as they do in the studio. Synchronized solo’s and everything, they just plain whoop ass. The opening bands were o.k. There was a metal/celtic band that played just before the opening act and the first band was like an Iron Madain/Judas Priest/80’s style mix band. They played pretty well. On the last song Amon Amarth song I went in the mosh pit and rocked out wickedly hard. It was just like I remembered it from when I was a kid going to punk shows. I am a little older now so I was worried of getting hurt but I made it out without injury. That is a good thing because I need to work and make money not like when I was a kid and mom was paying my way. Well I will be going again if they ever come back to Alberta.
Mel: Buy myself flowers: Today I was supposed to buy myself flowers. I recognize the importance of spoiling yourself every once in awhile. I think that it’s nice to give myself something now and then because I often give a lot of myself to others, in my job and in my personal life. With that said though I found it a bit uncomfortable to buy myself flowers. Even as I was going to the flower shop I got thinking about what I would say if the staff at the store asked me who I was buying them for. Would I proudly say, “for myself” or cowardly make up some lie about who I was buying them for. I didn’t make a firm decision on which route I would take if I got asked. Luckily I didn’t. I kept thinking about it though as I walked around the shop looking for what I would buy.
The second time that I felt a bit unnerved during this activity was when I looked at the prices of the flowers. I had planned on buying myself a nice bouquet of spring flowers to put in my office at work. I thought it would cheer up my office a bit. When I looked at some of the prices I thought “if I have to look at these everyday they are just going to remind me of the money I wasted on them”. Don’t get me wrong, I know flowers are expensive but I had a hard time justifying spending that money on myself, especially when they are going to die in a few days. So, after a lot of thought, and paranoia that if I didn’t hurry up someone was going to ask me who I was buying flowers for, I decided to buy myself the flower in the picture…….
Ken: Amon Amarth Concert: Hell yes, Amon Amarth pulled off yet another wicked concert. These guys play as good live as they do in the studio. Synchronized solo’s and everything, they just plain whoop ass. The opening bands were o.k. There was a metal/celtic band that played just before the opening act and the first band was like an Iron Madain/Judas Priest/80’s style mix band. They played pretty well. On the last song Amon Amarth song I went in the mosh pit and rocked out wickedly hard. It was just like I remembered it from when I was a kid going to punk shows. I am a little older now so I was worried of getting hurt but I made it out without injury. That is a good thing because I need to work and make money not like when I was a kid and mom was paying my way. Well I will be going again if they ever come back to Alberta.
Mel: Buy myself flowers: Today I was supposed to buy myself flowers. I recognize the importance of spoiling yourself every once in awhile. I think that it’s nice to give myself something now and then because I often give a lot of myself to others, in my job and in my personal life. With that said though I found it a bit uncomfortable to buy myself flowers. Even as I was going to the flower shop I got thinking about what I would say if the staff at the store asked me who I was buying them for. Would I proudly say, “for myself” or cowardly make up some lie about who I was buying them for. I didn’t make a firm decision on which route I would take if I got asked. Luckily I didn’t. I kept thinking about it though as I walked around the shop looking for what I would buy.
The second time that I felt a bit unnerved during this activity was when I looked at the prices of the flowers. I had planned on buying myself a nice bouquet of spring flowers to put in my office at work. I thought it would cheer up my office a bit. When I looked at some of the prices I thought “if I have to look at these everyday they are just going to remind me of the money I wasted on them”. Don’t get me wrong, I know flowers are expensive but I had a hard time justifying spending that money on myself, especially when they are going to die in a few days. So, after a lot of thought, and paranoia that if I didn’t hurry up someone was going to ask me who I was buying flowers for, I decided to buy myself the flower in the picture…….
……as you can see this one will not die in a few days AND it was only $5.25!! Yay me! I am very happy with it and it makes me smile every time I look at it and think back on the experience of buying it.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Day 104 (April 14, 2010): Carve our initials into a tree
Tonight we went for a walk down to the river valley and carved our initals into a tree. I'm not telling you where it is but we landmarked it so we will be able to find it again. Perhaps we will post some pictures of it again in the future.
Ken is just getting started.
The angles on the "K" and "M" were a bit tricky.
The "K" is almost done.
Yay, it's done. I think he did a great job. Sorry Tree:(
I like this picture because I like how the trees in the background look.
Day 103 (April 13 2010) Spend no money for one whole day
Today Mel and I did not spend any money. This seems easy but it was not planned. We decided it in the morning. I was about to go out and get milk because I was low and wanted to buy a shake at the gym. Good thing I did not haha. It was interesting due to the amount of commercialism that goes on in this world. WOW. We made it the whole day without spending a penny.
Mel: I had a meeting in the morning with a group of colleagues that I meet with once a month and we meet at a coffee shop. I had to make my own tea in the morning and take it to the meeting. (insert very sad face) I would have rather bought one but oh well. Then the meeting ran late and I had drank all of my tea so I had nothing to drink and I couldn't spend money. I have pills that I need to take 1 hour before lunch and I couldn't take them until I got home at 12:00 so by 1:00 I was starving and really ready to eat my lunch. Those were the only two times of the day that I wished I could have spent money......oh well. I guess I saved about 5 bucks from not buying the tea or a water bottle so I could take my pills.
Mel: I had a meeting in the morning with a group of colleagues that I meet with once a month and we meet at a coffee shop. I had to make my own tea in the morning and take it to the meeting. (insert very sad face) I would have rather bought one but oh well. Then the meeting ran late and I had drank all of my tea so I had nothing to drink and I couldn't spend money. I have pills that I need to take 1 hour before lunch and I couldn't take them until I got home at 12:00 so by 1:00 I was starving and really ready to eat my lunch. Those were the only two times of the day that I wished I could have spent money......oh well. I guess I saved about 5 bucks from not buying the tea or a water bottle so I could take my pills.
Day 102 (April 12 2010) 50 questions that will free your mind
1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Ken: 25
Mel: 30
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
Ken and Mel: Never Trying
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
Mel: I do things for other people. If I did everything that I just wanted to do it would be selfish. I think we also do these things for our future, ie: kids. We want to have a better life for them.
Ken: the pressure of society
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Mel: Probably
Ken: I hope not
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
Ken: The fact that we have to spend more time working than playing.
Mel: poverty, the fact that everything costs so much money.
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
Ken: Weightlifting
Mel: I would probably continue doing what I do, but I would do it for 6 months a year and then take 6 months off.
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
Ken: currently settling, but I am in the process of making changes towards my future goals.
Mel: Doing what I believe in.
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
Ken: I wouldn’t
Mel: travel more
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
Ken: All of it
Mel: I believe that there is a balance between fate and creating your own destiny. For example, I went to University not really having a clear idea about what I wanted to do with my life but through different classes and experiences I figured out that I really liked the field I was studying and I could make of it what I wanted. Fate has definitely played a part in my life like when I met my husband but I also believe that I met him at that time because I was ready to meet him and settle down. If I had met him a few years earlier I might have passed him by.
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
Ken: doing things right
Mel: doing the right things
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
Ken: Tell them to $%&# off and leave it alone.
Mel: I would stop the conversation very quickly and tell them that they should know that her and I are friends and its okay for them to feel like that but I am uncomfortable being there when they are talking about her.
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Ken: Learn what you love early and stay with it.
Mel: Trust your instincts! Usually when things go wrong for me it is because I am trying to spare someone’s feelings or just go with the flow (ie: group decision ) and so I don’t listen to my instincts. I always kick myself after when I am saying “I knew that was going to happen, I should have said something!”.
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one
Ken: yes
Mel: YES!!
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
Ken: In music
Mel: all the time, I work with kids!
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
Ken: eat healthy and attend the gym on a daily basis
Mel: not sure
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
Ken: because we are all different
Mel: because not everyone is the same
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
Ken: Join MMA gym but it is very expensive.
Mel: Get my Masters degree………money is holding me back.
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
Ken: no I did that when I was young
Mel: people in my life who have addictions problems and it will never change but I still wish it would. I also resent them for it so I hold on to that too.
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
Ken: I would move to Montana because of the small amount of people to the area and they were very nice people.
Mel: back to Saskatchewan
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
Ken: yes and then no
Mel: yes, I push it more than once and No, I don’t think it will go faster, it just makes me feel productive, lol.
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
Ken: joyful simpleton
Mel: joyful simpleton
22. Why are you, you?
Ken: I like me and my wife likes me(most of me) haha
Mel: Because I am Assertive! YAY!!!!
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
Ken: Yes
Mel: not always, but I am now.
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
Ken: Losing touch who lives close to you
Mel: losing touch
25. What are you most grateful for?
Ken: My wife
Mel: My husband and our simple life
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
Ken: lose old ones
Mel: lose all of my old memories
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
Ken: no
Mel: isn’t that what faith is? I guess for some people it might be possible but not for me.
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
Ken: no and I hope it never does
Mel: no, but I worry about it sometimes.
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
Ken: No but it still bothers me haha
Mel: nope! That is what I always tell people in the anger management groups that I facilitate.
30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
Ken: Playing hockey on the ice on the farm we lived at, because I was the best player on the ice haha
Mel: I have so many and they all involve family. I remember spending time with my grandparents, watching hockey while laying on the living room floor with my dad, playing WWF with my brothers, building forts with my brother Brent, when my brother Trent got home after a summer away working,
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
Ken: when I got married and went on our honeymoon.
Mel: After I have a good workout. I have been really consistent with it lately and I am making progress. It feels great!
32. If not now, then when?
Ken: Never if not now
Mel: never I guess?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
Ken: nothing
Mel: nothing
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
Ken: yes
Mel: yes, that happens a lot with my husband
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
Ken: because they are different and sometimes different people fight. It just happens to be a large mass of people that believe these things and they do not like each other.
Mel: because people are so passionate about what they believe that they can’t take criticism or be open to other ideas. They will defend their ideas as being right no matter what.
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
Ken: No because without one you would not know the other. If there was no cold you would not know how to gage heat.
Mel: only for those people who truly have faith. I don’t so I will always question that.
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
Ken: Yes and go to school and get a career without the worries of finances and concentrate on school.
Mel: probably not. I might try to do something like my job part time though, or take a couple months of holidays a year instead of just 3 weeks.
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
Ken: more work that I actually enjoy doing
Mel: I like my work so just like I said in #37 it would be nice to have a bit less to do though.
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
Ken: yes I have asked myself these questions a hundred times before in my head and with my friends growing up.
Mel: nope
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
Ken: 2 years ago when I started my own company.
Mel: When I went to Korea without knowing a word of the language. I just knew that I needed a new experience.
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
Ken: no but I might call some of them to let them know.
Mel: Just my husband. I would want to spend every second with him that I could. If I tried to see everyone else then I wouldn’t have enough time to spend with any of them.
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
Ken: no
Mel: NO WAY!
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Ken: to live on the edge i.e. extreme sports and the other is to merely exist
Mel: Doing a 365 day challenge of course!
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
Ken: All the time
Mel: We should live like that all the time.
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Ken: because of our pride
Mel: because we might hurt others in the process
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Ken: nothing I so not care if people judge me except my mother and wife.
Mel: I can’t think of anything.
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
Ken: last night when I went to bed and actually this morning at the gym because I got a bit heavy.
Mel: yesterday at my BodyFlow class we did a relaxation exercise at the end of the class. They told me to pay attention to my breathing and listen to it to see if it was shallow or deep.
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
Ken: I love my wife, everyday I try to help with dinner or helping with the lunches, and just calling her or texting an I love you
Mel: I love my husband and my cats. I tell him I love him all the time. I give them all hugs and kisses……yes, even the cats, the just love the hugs, lol.
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
Ken: Some of the days I will remember because I lift weights and I remember when I hit a milestone and most of the time if I think about it, it sometimes feels like yesterday
Mel: Well, since we are blogging our entire year this year I will be able to look at that and see but in an average year, no I wouldn’t have a clue.
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
Ken: I am making them for myself with my wife in mind.
Mel: both
Ken and I had a bit of a debate about this activity. I won't tell you who thought what but I will tell you about the debate so you can give us your opinons on our poll on the side of this page.
The debate is, would it be okay to answer questions 1-25 on one day and then questions 26-50 on another day and count them as two different activities since they are different questions. Here is another example: What if we were to take an art class over a span of 3 days and one day we learned some techniques then the next day we learned different techniques and the third day we made our finished product. Could we count all three of those days as our activity for each day or should we only count that once?
We are interested in knowing your opinions on this project.
Ken: 25
Mel: 30
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
Ken and Mel: Never Trying
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
Mel: I do things for other people. If I did everything that I just wanted to do it would be selfish. I think we also do these things for our future, ie: kids. We want to have a better life for them.
Ken: the pressure of society
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Mel: Probably
Ken: I hope not
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
Ken: The fact that we have to spend more time working than playing.
Mel: poverty, the fact that everything costs so much money.
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
Ken: Weightlifting
Mel: I would probably continue doing what I do, but I would do it for 6 months a year and then take 6 months off.
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
Ken: currently settling, but I am in the process of making changes towards my future goals.
Mel: Doing what I believe in.
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
Ken: I wouldn’t
Mel: travel more
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
Ken: All of it
Mel: I believe that there is a balance between fate and creating your own destiny. For example, I went to University not really having a clear idea about what I wanted to do with my life but through different classes and experiences I figured out that I really liked the field I was studying and I could make of it what I wanted. Fate has definitely played a part in my life like when I met my husband but I also believe that I met him at that time because I was ready to meet him and settle down. If I had met him a few years earlier I might have passed him by.
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
Ken: doing things right
Mel: doing the right things
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
Ken: Tell them to $%&# off and leave it alone.
Mel: I would stop the conversation very quickly and tell them that they should know that her and I are friends and its okay for them to feel like that but I am uncomfortable being there when they are talking about her.
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Ken: Learn what you love early and stay with it.
Mel: Trust your instincts! Usually when things go wrong for me it is because I am trying to spare someone’s feelings or just go with the flow (ie: group decision ) and so I don’t listen to my instincts. I always kick myself after when I am saying “I knew that was going to happen, I should have said something!”.
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one
Ken: yes
Mel: YES!!
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
Ken: In music
Mel: all the time, I work with kids!
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
Ken: eat healthy and attend the gym on a daily basis
Mel: not sure
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
Ken: because we are all different
Mel: because not everyone is the same
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
Ken: Join MMA gym but it is very expensive.
Mel: Get my Masters degree………money is holding me back.
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
Ken: no I did that when I was young
Mel: people in my life who have addictions problems and it will never change but I still wish it would. I also resent them for it so I hold on to that too.
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
Ken: I would move to Montana because of the small amount of people to the area and they were very nice people.
Mel: back to Saskatchewan
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
Ken: yes and then no
Mel: yes, I push it more than once and No, I don’t think it will go faster, it just makes me feel productive, lol.
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
Ken: joyful simpleton
Mel: joyful simpleton
22. Why are you, you?
Ken: I like me and my wife likes me(most of me) haha
Mel: Because I am Assertive! YAY!!!!
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
Ken: Yes
Mel: not always, but I am now.
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
Ken: Losing touch who lives close to you
Mel: losing touch
25. What are you most grateful for?
Ken: My wife
Mel: My husband and our simple life
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
Ken: lose old ones
Mel: lose all of my old memories
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
Ken: no
Mel: isn’t that what faith is? I guess for some people it might be possible but not for me.
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
Ken: no and I hope it never does
Mel: no, but I worry about it sometimes.
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
Ken: No but it still bothers me haha
Mel: nope! That is what I always tell people in the anger management groups that I facilitate.
30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
Ken: Playing hockey on the ice on the farm we lived at, because I was the best player on the ice haha
Mel: I have so many and they all involve family. I remember spending time with my grandparents, watching hockey while laying on the living room floor with my dad, playing WWF with my brothers, building forts with my brother Brent, when my brother Trent got home after a summer away working,
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
Ken: when I got married and went on our honeymoon.
Mel: After I have a good workout. I have been really consistent with it lately and I am making progress. It feels great!
32. If not now, then when?
Ken: Never if not now
Mel: never I guess?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
Ken: nothing
Mel: nothing
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
Ken: yes
Mel: yes, that happens a lot with my husband
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
Ken: because they are different and sometimes different people fight. It just happens to be a large mass of people that believe these things and they do not like each other.
Mel: because people are so passionate about what they believe that they can’t take criticism or be open to other ideas. They will defend their ideas as being right no matter what.
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
Ken: No because without one you would not know the other. If there was no cold you would not know how to gage heat.
Mel: only for those people who truly have faith. I don’t so I will always question that.
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
Ken: Yes and go to school and get a career without the worries of finances and concentrate on school.
Mel: probably not. I might try to do something like my job part time though, or take a couple months of holidays a year instead of just 3 weeks.
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
Ken: more work that I actually enjoy doing
Mel: I like my work so just like I said in #37 it would be nice to have a bit less to do though.
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
Ken: yes I have asked myself these questions a hundred times before in my head and with my friends growing up.
Mel: nope
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
Ken: 2 years ago when I started my own company.
Mel: When I went to Korea without knowing a word of the language. I just knew that I needed a new experience.
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
Ken: no but I might call some of them to let them know.
Mel: Just my husband. I would want to spend every second with him that I could. If I tried to see everyone else then I wouldn’t have enough time to spend with any of them.
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
Ken: no
Mel: NO WAY!
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
Ken: to live on the edge i.e. extreme sports and the other is to merely exist
Mel: Doing a 365 day challenge of course!
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
Ken: All the time
Mel: We should live like that all the time.
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Ken: because of our pride
Mel: because we might hurt others in the process
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Ken: nothing I so not care if people judge me except my mother and wife.
Mel: I can’t think of anything.
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
Ken: last night when I went to bed and actually this morning at the gym because I got a bit heavy.
Mel: yesterday at my BodyFlow class we did a relaxation exercise at the end of the class. They told me to pay attention to my breathing and listen to it to see if it was shallow or deep.
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
Ken: I love my wife, everyday I try to help with dinner or helping with the lunches, and just calling her or texting an I love you
Mel: I love my husband and my cats. I tell him I love him all the time. I give them all hugs and kisses……yes, even the cats, the just love the hugs, lol.
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
Ken: Some of the days I will remember because I lift weights and I remember when I hit a milestone and most of the time if I think about it, it sometimes feels like yesterday
Mel: Well, since we are blogging our entire year this year I will be able to look at that and see but in an average year, no I wouldn’t have a clue.
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
Ken: I am making them for myself with my wife in mind.
Mel: both
Ken and I had a bit of a debate about this activity. I won't tell you who thought what but I will tell you about the debate so you can give us your opinons on our poll on the side of this page.
The debate is, would it be okay to answer questions 1-25 on one day and then questions 26-50 on another day and count them as two different activities since they are different questions. Here is another example: What if we were to take an art class over a span of 3 days and one day we learned some techniques then the next day we learned different techniques and the third day we made our finished product. Could we count all three of those days as our activity for each day or should we only count that once?
We are interested in knowing your opinions on this project.
Day 101 (April 11 2010) Went to see a movie in the theater
Today we went to a movie……AT A THEATRE! LOL It has been a very long time since I have been to a movie theatre. It is really expensive and with the ability to download movies it doesn’t seem like it is worth it to spend the money. We were lucky enough to have a gift card that we got from a friend. Thanks Premo if you reading this. It covered the cost of our tickets so we just had to buy snacks. Since I can’t eat any of the food there it wasn’t very expensive. Even though going to the movies is costly I think that it is a nice treat every once in awhile. It is a totally different experience than watching a movie at home. The big screen, booming sound system and ambiance that is created by the bright colours in the corridors make it more fun and exciting. AND if you are not on a diet, the snacks are great too!
The movie we went to see was The Green Zone. It was sort of a controversial take on why the war in Iraq started. We both like action movies so we really enjoyed it.
The movie we went to see was The Green Zone. It was sort of a controversial take on why the war in Iraq started. We both like action movies so we really enjoyed it.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Day 100-WOW! (April 10, 2010): Photo Blog of our Day!
Today we did a photo blog of our day:
Good Night Everyone!!
This is me talking on the phone to my brother when I first woke up. We slept in a bit today because we were out at The Transit last night. I am thinking, "oh great, this picture of me is going on the internet!"
Good Morning sleepy husband!
I am still on the phone but now I am on facebook too! I am multi tasking first thing in the morning, yay me!
Ken is making us breakfast - we had yummy toasted fried egg sandwiches with lots of cheese, mmmmm!
Here I am eating my breakfast, still in my pj's.
This is Thor licking off Ken's plate.....he lets them do that. It drives me nuts!
Now he is cleaning himself off after his yummy little snack.
Now Ken is on facebook
I have to do dishes since he cooked, blah! The thing that makes me most happy about this picture is how huge my pj's look on me, lol! I don't realize how much weight I've lost until I see pictures like this.
More dishes!
I decided to cuddle with my kitty in bed after doing those dishes. We only layed there for a few minutes but it was nice.
Ken and Thor were playing Hide and Seek while Oden and I were cuddling.
Now they decided to wrestle in the bed that Oden and I were cuddling in. I guess our cuddle time is over. This is Ken putting Thor in a "full nelson". Don't worry, "no animals were hurt in the making of this production". Ken usually gets a few scratches though because Thor gets so excited when they play that he goes wild and attacks Ken even when play time is over.
This is called PROCRASTINATION!!! Ken is watching TV and vacuuming during the commercials.
Progress....
This is a closer picture of Oden. He is in the background of the previous picture but this one really shows how much he hates the vacuum.
Okay, now we showered (I didn't take pictures of that!) and are ready to go get our groceries.
In the car, on the way to the first store.
1st stop - H and W Produce where we buy lots of yummy veggies and fruit for really reasonable prices.
This is Ken in line at H&W. There was a long line up today. We usually go on Sunday and it is not so busy. I don't think we will go on a Saturday again!
Mmmmm, I see pineapple and raspberries!
Next we had to go to Canadian Tire because Ken was trying to find a special appoxy (glue) to fix the mirror on my car after our incident last night. I waited in the car and listened to my satellite radio. This was my view.......a big stack of dirt.
Now we are stopping at Zellers for a few things.....
This is me pushing the cart in Zellers. I have to say that it was a bit weird taking pictures in the stores. I didn't notice anyone looking at us strangely but I felt like they were.
Now we are stopping at the pet store to buy food for the monsters (our cats) we also bought them some treats and a new toy mouse that squeaks when they touch it, you will see pictures of them playing with it later.
Next we had to stop at Staples to buy ink for the printer. Phew! We sure had alot of errands to run today.
That head at the bottom of the picture is me looking back at Ken. We now have to go to Home Depot to look for the appoxy to fix the car. They didn't have the right stuff at Canadian Tire.
Finally we are at the grocery store. The last stop before home!
Yay, we are in the line up and are ready to leave the store!
While we were out running around these lazy cats were not doing anything!
This is what we came home to, two lazy cats! They never help with the housework.
Now we have to put away everything that we bought.....I hate this part.
I am starting to make soup. Every weekend we make a big batch of something for our lunches for the week. This week it is homemade chicken/vegetable soup. There was also some partridge breast in there too. Ken shot the partridge last fall when he was hunting.
We ate breakfast kind of late because we slept in so it was more like brunch. Now it is about 5:00 and we haven't had lunch yet so I am making supper at the same time as I am making our soup for the week. It was kind of a cold day today so Ken wanted Campbells Tomato Soup and sandwiches. He had the soup and a ham sandwich with jalapeno harvarti cheese. I can't eat Campbells soup on my diet because it has too much sodium and fat so I had a salad and a sandwich.
Here is our homemade broth. It is just starting to boil.
Ken was thawing out the meat and washing the partridge breasts a bit better because they still had a few feathers on them, yuck!
Peeling carrots while watching tv. We make a good team.
This is my yummy sandwich (I cheated by having some of the cheese that I am not supposed to have, hee hee) and salad.
This is Ken's very large bowl of tomato soup and crackers. To me it looks like tomato soup porridge. I was jealous of it though. One of my favourite meals of all time is tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. That is comfort food!
Kitty in a box! Oden loves his box. I want to put it in the recycling but he loves it too much.
We are now watching the hockey game...
Thor decided to lay down right beside Oden. We will see how long this lasts. Oden is not impressed.
Oden is trying to sleep but he is still annoyed that Thor is right beside him.
And in less than 2 minutes Oden is gone!
Time to unvail the new toy! Oden says, "what is that squeaking sound under the chair??"
They are both really intrigued with the new mouse.
Thor is now going crazy chasing it all over the house.
He is now trying to put it in a bag.
Now he is carrying it around trying to hide it somewhere. How about in Ken's gym bag?
Time to do laundry. I am a busy bee today!
We couldn't eat dessert right after supper because we were so full but because we ate at about 5:30 by 7:00 we were ready for dessert. We had fruit salad because we got so much nice fruit today. Ken's is on the left. His had bananas. I can't eat them. Mine had grapefruit. Ken hates grapefruit. They both had strawberries, oranges, raspberries and grapes.
The soup is still cooking away.....
Ken was watching the hockey game and he was too full to finish his fruit so I thought I would take a picture of him. Right when I pressed the button someone almost scored and I caught this expression on his face. Priceless!
Someone came to visit Ken.
Now we are going to watch a movie. "Couples Retreat". I am too tired to watch anything serious.
The funny thing about this picture is that when I looked at the camera screen I could see that black line on the TV but when I looked directly at the TV it wasn't visible.....hmmm.
The opening credits.
The movie was really funny! Now we are going to play a game of Monopoly Deal before we go to bed.
Yay, I win!!
We have brushed our teeth and its time to read ourselves to sleep...... Ken is reading "The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell
This is my book "The Queen of the South".
Good Night Everyone!!
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