Goal 4. Camp at 5 Provincial Campgrounds

You know what is awesome? Fire. And hard ice cream, especially when gotten from a cute highway stop. I hope everyone is really enjoying their last week of summer and is enjoying the best summer has to offer you. I have written about some of the fun things we have done here, and here, and here!

Recently I have been feeling burdened by the frustrating minutiae of life and it has really pulled me down. This has led me to question spending time on spiritual and emotional health, because it takes so much time and can be so easily defeated. I need time to figure out and deal with much more mundane and practicum problems, such as my awful haircut or lack thereof.

But this weekend I realized something. The point of working on spiritual and emotional health is not because it has immediate and measurable outcomes; it's because when you feel joy and inner peace and strength your {insert mundane problem here} doesn't matter as much. You still have all the same issues but you are a less fragile person and you are not finding your self-worth within your ability to deal with these issues.

Prince Charming is totally jealous of my non-motion sickness because I am typing this while driving home from our 4th provincial campground, Carson-Pegasus Provincial, and our first one in Alberta! We had a great weekend with Belle, Cogsworth, Mulan and Attila. It was truly awesome.

I hope you will take time this week to do something awesome. Maybe use the excuse of working on your spiritual and emotional health to take the time for it.

What awesomeness have you experienced this summer?

How having a mouse can improve your life

Source.

We have a mouse in the house.

We saw it for the first time Thursday, then on Saturday morning and again Monday morning.

We have stuffed every single hole we can find with steel wool, we currently have 9 traps out of 3 different varieties and we have re-cleaned out, put in containers and labelled all our food. We have even cleaned out several closets.

We hope that the mouse has gone, since we haven't caught anything yet. But we are still on the lookout.

But this isn't what the mouse has done that is good for us. No,  the mouse has made us talk to people.

I have talked to many many people at work. I have talked to my landlord and neighbours. I have talked to all of my family members various times. I have opened up a bit about our life, and now we have a connection.

I have also learned that some things that you are afraid of simply have to be gotten over. I have to get over my crazy fear of mice and talking to people has helped with this a lot. People give far better advice than the internet too.

So the next time something horrible happens in your life remember that there may be great things that happen as a result of the terror and you will probably grow as a person. Open yourself up, to new ideas and people. See what can happen.

Isn't that great to remember?

Goal 76. Make your own preserves (the easy way!)

Did you guys know that its already August?! This summer has gone by so fast! I am sad to say that we haven't really done a lot of the things that I love about summer, and have spent a lot of time on pinterest inside the house.

So I decided to do something summery and make some preserves! But I am cheap and a little bit lazy. Plus we are on a sugar-free diet, so making a whole bunch of super sugary jam didn't seem like a good idea. Actually I have found that there is a brand of pectin that requires much less sugar, but it has to be ordered off the internet and I didn't want to miss great fruit deals. So instead of actual canning, I decided to freeze instead!

Well, we survived moving.....

Let's get real for a moment. Have you noticed that I haven't published a blog post in over a month? There is a great reason for why that is so; I have had nothing good to say. It has been a very hard month, with many tears and frustrations and much stress. And guess what? That isn't fun to blog about, since this blog is supposed to motivate me to accomplish my goals and hopefully share helpful tips as I find them.

So next time you read this blog and think, oh wow, this girl really has her whole act together, just remember that I have to take months off at a time, where I can't think of a single thing to write about because I am not accomplishing any goals or doing anything fun.

Which of course is not true. I have accomplished much, such as finding and moving apartments and dealing with tendonitis in my foot. But it is one of those things that you look back on and realize it is good, not something that feels good while doing it.

Which is why I now bring you this post.

3 Increasing Joy Goals!

I am just back from a great trip to visit many family and friends and a place I love. We had a wonderful two-week vacation and now we are home and getting ready to face the world again. In Edmonton it is extremely hot, and I have a million (well actually about 10, but still!) mosquito bites on my feet that hurt soooo bad. It is nice to sit here and think about the great times we have just had.

For me the chief reason to ever go on vacation is one word: relaxation. Since we are not yet doing all-inclusive retreats with room service and all the amenities and hired staff one could think of, I find that organization is the best way to fake relaxation. The better prepared you are before a trip = less anxiety and more fun you can have!