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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
This post at Red and Honey was the kick in the pants I needed to finally put this post into words before the new year actually starts, sharing the idea I have been mulling over for the last month of choosing a word for the year rather than making a resolution.
The thing with taking a word is that it covers so much more of my life than making a resolution. Resolving to pay down debt doesn't affect whether I sleep or read during my commute, and resolving to eat well won't change how I treat Matt when he comes home late after a long day.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
It is nearing the end of my four day Christmas weekend, and I am bracing myself for three busy days of work before another long weekend for New Year's. I managed to avoid my usual day-at-home-alone habit of constantly grazing on Christmas chocolates, and I think that is part of the reason I feel so good about this day spent relaxing [not eating]. I enjoyed beginning Anne of Green Gables on my new eReader, and Nimoy had our first walk in snow this Winter (in the air, not on the ground yet). I had some company from one of our youth, hung a picture that has been waiting to go on the wall, and I'm looking forward to dinner out with Matt.
All this to say that it takes much longer than four days off work for me to get bored and wish myself busy again - I am just finally starting to relax!
And a belated Merry Christmas to everyone <3
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
Reading this article in National Post about happiness, I was struck by this idea from philosopher Gregory Currie:
When we fail we blame circumstances, but when others fail we blame their bad character. He called that “an error as crazy as thinking that wherever I happen to be marks the centre of the universe.”
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
I was completely startled on my way to work one morning this week when what I thought was dropped clothes on the floor turned out to be a homeless man sleeping in our stairwell.
The elevator has been on the fritz for a week or so, with buttons spontaneously lighting up or going out, and if I don't have anything heavy to carry it's simpler to just take the stairs. This morning I was heading out to work but noticed the stairwell door was propped open with a hat, just a crack, and when I opened the door further I saw a tshirt on the floor. Matt brought laundry up last night, so my please-make-sense-of-this brain filled in the blanks - Matt dropped some clean shirts out of the basket and forget to turn back to pick them up. But then I saw that the tshirt had arms. And a long white beard. And an open mouth, because the tshirt was on a sleeping man. And I smelled that he was probably homeless.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
Nimoy peed on the bottom shelf of a bookcase this week, which triggered a domino effect that ended in me looking over old school work from university deciding what to continue to store.
The thing that struck me most was how much I have forgotten. Example: old worksheets and tests from my two semesters of Biblical Hebrew. I used to be able to translate passages! I used to know what qal perfect and imperfect tense meant and identify verbs that had been parsed! I aced vocab tests that now mean nothing more to me than the wingdings font in Word.
While I am not interested in getting back into Hebrew, I was also inspired by notes I have from courses on Biblical books. I have been in somewhat of a rut lately for reading the Bible and praying, and it occurred to me earlier this week that committing to studying something specific might help me be more motivated and focused. As long as I don't let my perfectionism get in the way and sabotage everything! So we'll see. I am hoping that the more I write, the more I will want to write.
Time will tell :)
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
Last weekend was our church Christmas dinner. It was much more formal this year than in past years, so rather than simply having all the food arranged as a buffet for people to serve themselves, the youth (and Matt) were recruited to all wear ties and serve food and pour drinks right at the tables. I arrived at the church that night feeling not too sociable and definitely not eager to squeeze in at a table while Matt co-ordinated the youth, so instead I hung out in the kitchen and washed dishes with my friend Joyce. All night. And it was great!
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
I am in love with December!
The last two days have both ended with outrageous sunsets - bafflingly beautiful to look at - and there is a fresh excitement in my spirit for the Christmas season and New Year that are approaching.
Last night, Matt and I visited our friends to celebrate their daughter's first birthday! It was so fun to see how quickly she is growing and developing - now walking on her own, testing out her voice, laughing and clapping.
Matt and I have started to decorate our apartment with lights on the living room window, and hopefully we will get to decorating the tree this weekend so I can post Christmassy pictures of our apartment!
And as I've been thinking about the New Year, it has occurred to me to choose/discern a word for the year rather than worry about resolutions. I saw this over at Red and Honey in January and love the idea, so I will probably sit on it for the rest of the month and see if I stick with the (secret-for-now) word I have in mind :P
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
I have been thinking about New Year's resolutions for the last week or so, trying to decide whether I should make any, and trying to figure out what it/they could possibly be. 2011 was the first year that I really made a resolution and kept it - it was to finish making a baby blanket for my friend Jo whose daughter is turning one tomorrow! I am much more likely to start and project than to finish it, so very early last January I decided that I would remember how to crochet and that I would make this blanket, and I promised myself that it would not be left as half a ball of yarn and a bunch of squares needing to be joined together. I think it was near the end of March that I finished it, and alas I gave it away without taking any pictures. But I finished it!
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
Clearly November has been a very different month than October, but every time I think of doing a post, this is as far as I get. So I am setting my perfectionism aside, allowing for the fact that I can't possibly catch up/cover everything in one post and just say what I have to say.
November has been full.
Going to Philly two weeks ago was fantastic - Matt and I both loved the trip itself, just to be away together, plus we met some really cool people and were part of great conversations about community and Christianity and broken places.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
October always seems to pass so quickly! But I knew it would. Now November is starting, and in two weekends Matt and I will be at School for Conversion! I started re-reading Irresistible Revolution today and am loving it just as much as the first time.
I was blessed today by Psalm 86:4,
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
I have been realizing this month how much anxieties and busyness and fatigue have been wearing me down. Transitioning from Summer to Winter certainly doesn't help, but I am hoping that iron and/or fish oil supplements may help me feel better physically, and that will give me a stronger foundation to feel better emotionally.
The bright side of my dark moods lately has been inspiration to write. For myself. I loved reading and writing poetry in high school, had no time for it at university (except for the very beginning of falling for Matt), but the last few weeks it has been a great outlet for me.
Daylight savings is next weekend, which means today is probably the last Monday I came home before dark. I probably should have savoured it a little more.
Last thing - Nimoy got pink eye. I feel like he is just one diaper change away from being more like a home ec assignment than a pet. But he's a trooper, and we didn't even take him to the vet on this one.