Fresh Beginnings

As for me, I dived back into full-time work from the middle of February.  I am the newest member of the school psychologist team at an Ontario School Board.  I work in to elementary schools doing assessment and diagnosis of learning disabilities, autism, add, giftedness, etc., and for three days a week my main task is mental health counselling in a high needs high school.  I am loving it!  The work is rewarding, challenging, and fun; my colleagues are great to work with; I love the learning and knowledge I am gaining; and the students give me hope for our future!

And as an aside benefit - it's grand to have a paycheque deposited every two weeks.  It's a great feeling to just walk up to a cashier and plonk your own debit card down and not feel guilty that you are raiding someone else's bank account.  Retirement had advantages, but steady income was not one of them.  It's a good feeling to be doing my little bit for our little coffers.  And if we remain diligent and conscientious, maybe retirement is not so far in the distance.

Of course, all this hard work means far less time for the things I really like to do: read, write a blog, write to you, post photos, and generally potter - ahh those were the days!!

Inshallah

The Honeydo List

This is about getting organized, tidying up, re-acquainting ourselves with our house and possessions, staying on top of things, or more generally, just trying to keep our heads above water.   Life is still quite disorganized and messy (as it usually is, I suppose), but I would like to at least 'feel' somewhat in charge of things. 

We essentially returned to our home in Burlington after being on the road 'somewhere out there' for the last 5 years. In the meantime, weeds have grown, cracks have widened, paint has faded, rigor mortis has set in on a number of appliances and fixtures .....and cats have used various opportunities and illnesses to stake their claims on our carpets. The biggest job of all - the mountain of paperwork to catch up on - boxes on boxes in boxes of mail, flyers, documents and information both vital and useless - accumulated stealthily over time.

We have made a looong Santa's list of what's good and what's bad, what is an absolute must and what can wait till funds find their way into our coffers.  It's amazing the way a "to do" list can expand to assume the proportions of a Tolstoy novel.

We have shoved, carried, lifted and grunted our way through all the rooms in the house - moved furniture around; piled up the useless debris on the sidewalk for collection; painted walls and ceilings; cleaned and scrubbed carpets, delved into drawers and shelves to discover forgotten treasures and detritus that collects when you're not paying attention. And the book collections - boxes and stacks everywhere - all waiting for their new niche to materialize. I feel we should be fit and buff after all the weightlifting and repetitive exercise, and at the very least have lost that expanding waistline.

I unpacked all 52 containers and furniture that had been stored from Calgary, but before that had to first tidy and chuck the stuff that was already ensconced in cupboards and closets and drawers. I am thinking in particular of my clothes closet, stuffed to the gills with more clothing than I could wear in a year - there is definitely still a squirrel in me - hoarding away for those scant possibilities - like losing 50 pounds! or waiting for that colour, or neckline to rear its ugly head again. I have to say I am proud of myself though - this squirrel definitely has less nuts stored away!

I despair - as I have now come full circle and need to go round the circuit again - the Doha container will be here soon with another load to unpack and stack... goodness knows where right now....but I will think of something. The worst of this job - it will require another go-round in my clothes closet!

I will cease my perseveration on hoarding, collections, and clean up.