Random 5 Friday ~ Bored & busy, dogs, rules and Grover

Posted on April 17, 2020 by emjayandthem

It’s Friday, here are my 5 randoms from “shelter in place” / COVID-19. Such a strange time we’re living in.

1 I’m grateful to be employed and my job is busier than ever, so many conference calls – 3, 6, 10 a day. Now, because we’re working remotely, we’ve transitioned to Web/Video calls. Maybe I’m just punchy from being home this long but there’s a small part of me that wants to train the webcam on my Grover puppet (had since I was 7), wonder if anyone would notice?

Bueller? Bueller?

2 Sometimes the calls I’ve been on are very interesting and sometimes they are calls to prepare for other calls. During the latter, I bundle up and take a walk. But other times, after a flurry of morning calls, I might have one or even no calls that afternoon. I walk anyways but instead tune into podcasts (free). One still resonates … the author talked about being “bored or busy.” In this pandemic, many find themselves on one side or the other and wish for the opposite. Busy? Man, wish I had time to be bored! Bored? Man, wish I had something to do! The point being that, regardless what we’re doing through this, NO ONE LIKES IT. Why? It wasn’t our choice. Ding! Ding! Ding! All we can do is do it.

Outta my way, peeps, I’ve got stuff to do!

3 Back to my walks, I’m dead serious when I say they are saving my life right now. Getting fresh air, sunshine or not, with my Toque, scarf, coat and mittens, has been life-saving. I wave to neighbors I’ve never seen before and smile at the dogs being walked. And I haven’t seen a sad dog yet! 🙂

Our Frankie-bear resting during a walk; an Emjayandthem (C) photo. Sure do miss him.

4 Hubbs and I are adapting – missing out on Easter with our kids & grands was hard, very hard. He’s cried a few times from the stress of it all. I’m a pretty strong individual but seeing my big-shouldered man cry makes me cry. On the flip side, we belly-laugh about the silliest things: songs we’ve made up, the 3,000 paper towels he has in reserve (but not so much TP), pictures the kids send us of our grand kids and grand dogs. Jokes back and forth. Going through this together, I’m grateful that the life we live is a life worth rushing back to.

5 Michigan’s Governor has enacted some of the most Draconian stay-at-home orders possible; folks are ticked, to put it mildly. Under the rules, you can buy Pot, but not seeds for a garden. You can buy Lotto Tickets and Liquor but not carpet or paint. If you own a Michigan cottage “up north” you can’t travel there, but if you live out of state and own a Michigan cottage “up north,” you can. Stupid. People are stressed and some have ratted others “out” for perceived “wrongs.” *Shudder*. Freedom isn’t free and what’s legal isn’t always what’s moral. And there are some in power who want this to drag on and on so as to create a nation of people dependent on the government. Not me! *Shudder*

PS Not a Libertarian

So … how are you holding up?

Categories: Attitude, Determination, Elections, Faith, Family, Growth, Home, Life, News, Opinion, Personal, Women, Work | Tags: busy or bored, can't buy paint or carpet, chicken, cottage up north, COVID-19, Democrats, dogs, Draconian, Easter, emotional, fresh air, Grover, happy dogs, jokes, legality vs morality, lotto tickets and liquor sales, missing our kids, new normal, podcasts, rush to return to normal, shelter-in-place, sunshine, walks, what's worth rushing back to, you can buy pot but not garden seeds | 10 Comments

He is not here

Posted on April 12, 2020 by emjayandthem

Good morning ~ The Church may be empty but so is the Tomb! He’s Alive! He’s Alive! He’s Alive and I’m forgiven Heaven’s gates are open wide, He’s alive!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I listen to this song every Easter morning and it makes me cry every single time. This year, being locked in at home, the opening words really got to me…

The gates and doors were barred

And all the windows fastened down

I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound

Half in hope of sorrow
And half in fear the day

Would find the soldiers breakin’ through
To drag us all away

But then I heard the good news: He’s Alive!

He is not here!

Happy Easter

Categories: Attitude, Faith, Family, Forgiveness, Friendship, Gratitude, Holidays, Joy | Tags: Happy Easter, He is not here, He is Risen, He's Alive, it's not just about candy and bunnies, Matthew 28:1-10, Ressurection, what is the meaning of Easter | 6 Comments

12 Tiny Things You Can Do Right Now

Posted on April 2, 2020 by emjayandthem

Go outside, look all the way up and take 3 deep breaths
Open a window ~ let the spring air in
Find sunshine and sit/stand in it 🙂
Call a friend or family member just to check in
Drink a glass of water
Write a letter
Turn off the “news”
Offer to help someone – a meal, groceries, a roll of TP
Sing & dance to a favorite song
Push your shoulder blades back 3 x – feel the tension release?
Reach down and touch your toes, ahh!
Laugh

How are you doing in self-isolation?

#12tinythings

**This is my 1000th post, who knew?

Categories: Attitude, Confidence at any age, Determination, Faith, Fun, Growth, Home, News, Opinion, Personal, Self Discovery, Uncategorized | Tags: 12 tiny things, coronavirus, COVID-19, mental-health, self-care, self-isolation | 10 Comments

Random 5 Friday ~ Soup, Social Distancing & Life Lessons

Posted on March 27, 2020 by emjayandthem

It’s Friday, the first Friday of our “stay-at-home” COVID-19 order. I hope this finds you all safe & well ~ Here are my random 5 for today~

1 ) Being home is fine with me & Hubbs ~ we are both more introverted than not and home is our happy place. He’s wandering around, suffering from sports-withdrawal and is our resident news hawk. Reading is my escape. When it all gets too much, and it does, I turn off the 24/7 coverage and jump head-first into a book.

Lesson: both of us being home full-time has been a good practice run for retirement.

2 ) It’s been a week since I got sick, and 10 days for Hubbs. We’re still coughing and appetites are slowly returning. We’ve noshed on soups and omelettes, fruit and coffee. Beef noodle vegetable was on the lunch menu yesterday and, because I come from a family of 7, I made enough for us, neighbors + some to freeze. 🙂

Lesson: Yeah I could pare it back but neighbors are happy and the freezer is stocked. All good.

3 ) I feel for the parents, home now full-time with kids, while worrying about safety, finances, job security, etc. I say build a fort, play a board game, draw pictures, and cook together. Let them get bored, it’s OK. Kids don’t need to learn a new language or master advanced math right now, they just need you.

Lesson: Do what you need to do & keep a sense of humor – for the best parent tweets about Social Distancing click here .

4 ) Benefits of staying home:

It takes me no time at all to get ready for work 🙂
- I’m working longer hours and on back-to-back calls
  - Cough cough
No need to pack a lunch, I’m only 15 steps from the kitchen and the cook’s pretty good 🙂
- Trying to avoid the “Quarantine 15”
Lesson ~
- I love being home, I still enjoy working, and I miss being able to go out when I want
  - The lesson for me is that there’s always a lesson in there (Thanks Mom)

5 ) It’s a crazy, scary surreal time. We’ll get through it. After all, many of us grew up using this:

Lesson – we are a (mostly) hearty bunch and a strong nation ~It might take a while but we’ll come back from this.

So how are you holding up?

Categories: Attitude, Blogging, Confidence at any age, Determination, Faith, Family, Food, Growth, Home, Humor, Life, Life Lessons, News, Opinion, Personal, Random observations, Relationships, Thoughts | Tags: Books, comfort, COVID-19, food, grateful, humor, lessons, news, pandemic, random 5, rest, retirement, self-care, shelter-in-place, soup | 19 Comments

Control your controllable(s)

Posted on March 22, 2020 by emjayandthem

Crazy times we’re in ~ and that’s the understatement of the year! New buzz words pepper our vocabulary ~

Quarantine
Self-isolate
Mitigate spread
Prepare, prepare , prepare

COVID-19. Pandemic. Confusion. Fear.

We are tucked in, with Hubbs battling a viral bug and me not far behind. We’re on the mend and thankful for a stocked pantry with enough paper products for a while ~ no hoarding here.

Self-care is foremost including:

Hand-washing and cleaning
Fluids and plenty of rest
- Slept 11 hours Friday and took a 2 hour nap Saturday
  - As Mom would say, “You must have needed it”
Reading, reading and reading
Turning off news after a while, usually in evenings.
- It’s hard to sleep after all that.
- Updates bring more anxiety
Moving around and stretching
Laundry, washing jammies and sweatpants and blankies, because that’s what we’re using most
Cooking a little, enjoying eggs, fruit, tea and toast

Sending good thoughts to all ~ We’re thankful our boys & their girls and all of our littles are well and at home.

Yep, we’re doing our best to “control our controllables” – and praying for patience for all ~

So ~ how are you doing? Be safe and please stay home!

Categories: Attitude, Faith, Family, fear, Home, Life, Love, News, Opinion, Personal, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tags: anxiety, being home, coping, COVID-19, home, pandemic, quarantine, Reading, self-care, stress | 4 Comments

Random 5 Saturday ~ Birthdays, Rinks and COVID19

Posted on March 7, 2020 by emjayandthem

It’s Saturday, the sun is shining and it’s time for 5 randoms from my world. Ready? Set? Go!

1 ) Celebrating oldest boy’s birthday later today ~ which called for some home-made baking straight out of Mommacita’s kitchen. My blueberry-loving boy gets a blueberry/peach cobbler and the rest will enjoy a Triple Chocolate “Rink” Cake (good enough to take to the rink, a nod to the winter home of my childhood). That sheen on the cake? That’s from butter in the homemade chocolate buttercream frosting. Margarine is never gonna give you that sheen ~ Love baked in every bite!

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

Triple Chocolate “Rink” Cake

Indeed it is

2 ) Speaking of the Rink .. it remains the H E A R T of my prairie home. Talking with my sister last night she filled me in on the “Spa Spiel” happening this weekend – a 3 day curling bonspiel, with 16 teams, ages ranging from grade school to seniors. (** Winning team gets a trip to the local hot springs Spa**) The rink kitchen will be humming with volunteers frying onions for “rink burgers,” serving up homemade pie, homemade soup and homemade buns, all donated from area residents. Those not curling will be visiting, skating, playing cards, eating pie and enjoying what’s likely to be the last winter “hurrah” for the real ice of that small-town prairie rink. Spring will come and the ice will go – it’s just the way it’s always been.

I remember coming in to warm up, after skating for hours, and finding enough change for an ice cold-coke or Sprite out of this cooler. We’d pull our drink out of the frosty water, wipe it off with the rag that’d been there forever, and enjoy, our cheeks burning as they warmed. It is not possible to craft a better childhood and I’m so glad to hear those prairie traditions continue!

the old Coca-Cola chest …

3 ) Signs of Spring are everywhere – but March came in like a Lamb. We all know what that means!

Roar !

4 ) Woke up to emails from airlines that I have upcoming business trip tickets with ~ and assurances about clean air and cabin cleaning…. No CoVid19 around here yet but the FLU (which kills thousands every year) has been rampant, with many schools having to close for a week at a time. NoroVirus, Influenza A and H1N1 are all in play – blah. Between us, I’ve got a feeling my corporate conferences are about to be scrapped. And that’s OK by me.

5 ) My new indulgence – Cuban coffee ~ oh Mylanta, so good!

What’s new in your world?

Categories: Attitude, Beauty, Faith, Family, Food, Home, Joy, Life, Thoughts, Wisdom, Women, Work, Writing | Tags: airlines, birthdays, blueberry, Cafe Bustelo, cake, coffee, common sense, coronavirus, COVID19, Cuban Coffee, flu, H1N1, health, influenza, Lamb, Lion, March, Rink, safety, travel, wash your hands | 6 Comments

Can’t say no

Posted on February 22, 2020 by emjayandthem

Grand-dog Sully

Grand-dog Sully is here for the weekend. He’s like having an 70lb toddler around, in/out, up/down, squeaky toy, wrestling toy, chew toy then knocked out-sleep. I’m his favorite (I’m the cook & he’s no dummy) and while he likes hubbs he follows me ..and believes that he is a lap dog.

We were up & outside at 530, completed a yard inspection by 7:15 … at 25F. He barked at songbirds trilling – they know it’s warming up, but he missed the memo.

I’m still recovering from dental hell but laughing at him has been good therapy.

And with that, I gotta go. I promised my little pal I’d peruse the yard with him again after this last cup of coffee … and even though he is big and grown, when I look in his eyes I still see this:

baby Sullivan

What are you up to today?

Categories: Animals, Attitude, Family, Home, Humor, Joy, Life, Personal | Tags: dogs, grand-dog, Saturday smiles, Sully, therapy | 10 Comments

The heart has no wrinkles

Posted on February 14, 2020 by emjayandthem

Happy Valentines Day! 💖💖💖

Recovering from dental surgery (an extraction & bone grafting to prepare for a future implant, ye-ouch), I feel the love from hubby – otherwise known as “he who doesn’t cook”- the same man who bought omelettes we could warm up. He heats them just so, then cuts everything so I can eat it. (I had made soup but it’s too painful to slurp…)

I awoke with a start at 4 a.m. today and lay in bed thinking about the Valentines of my youth .. and remembered to being young/newly married, when we still bought gifts and cards and did all that “stuff” and I compared it to the love we share now.

And I smile my gap-toothed smile appreciating that “Real love” is hubby telling his wife – the one who looks like a goalie on the losing team “it’s not that bad” & then asks “is there anything I can do for you?”

Real love is hubby asking “what book are you reading now?” even though he’d rather watch sports or politics than talk books. 📚

Real love shows up, checks in, accepts the bed hair, mismatched jammies and fusses to make sure all is well. Real love turns up the heat, warms up the leftovers, scolds with a finger point reminders to take the antibiotics and pain meds on a regular basis. Real love does the best he can.

And that, my friends, is all the Valentines Love I need

I hope you are feeling loved today – be it self-love, partner love or pet love! XO

1970s punch-out Valentines; google.images.com

Categories: Attitude, Beauty, Growth, Love, Men, News, Opinion, Personal, Relationships, Romance, Thoughts, Women | Tags: heroes and valentines, leftovers, love stories, mature love, Real love, the 3 sides of love, the heart has no wrinkles, true love, Valentines Day | 10 Comments

More of my old friend

Posted on January 29, 2020 by emjayandthem

It’s the New Year and I’ve been (mostly) absent from this blog. I’ve read yours (thank you for continuing to post while I’ve been away). You see, I’ve reconnected with an old friend ~ my books.

I’ve read, and read, and read some more. Yes I’ve also cooked, cleaned, socialized, worked, and worked out .. yes, all that. But I’ve mostly leaned in and cozied up through this cold, dark January ~ So far Grand Rapids has had zero sunny days, 10 days with a little sun and 17 entirely cloudy days. Until I read that article I hadn’t noticed! You see between this little gadget shown below (used every morning) and all my delicious reading, I’m too content to care 🙂

https://verilux.com/pages/light-therapy

I am relaxed and happier – all from doing what I love – with no guilt. Reading, learning, growing, and more. So much more.

Does your reading activity go up in winter?
Is it sunny where you are?

“Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

(and this friend READS )

Categories: Attitude, Blogging, Faith, Fun, Growth, Home, Joy, Life, Love, Personal, Self Discovery, Share | Tags: attitude, Books, content, growing, Happiness, Happy Light, happy place, leaning in, learning, my happy place, no sunshine, Reading, Weather, winter | 8 Comments

Fri-yay 3 ~ Milestones, Storms and Thieves

Posted on January 10, 2020 by emjayandthem

It’s Friday of the first full work week of 2020 ~ here are my 3 Random Thoughts for Fri-yay.

Ready? let’s go!

1 ) Milestones – Attended a retirement party recently for the woman who hired me 18+ years ago. How did we get old enough to retire already? Ironically one of her parting gifts was a beautiful clock. Maybe it’s me but I found it funny that others assume someone who’s not going to be “on the clock” anymore wants … a clock? We had a good visit and lots of laughs and she whispered joyfully, “5 more alarms to go…” #IsntItIronic

2 ) Winter Storm Watch – the Midwest is bracing for a wild weather weekend. TV forecasters are salivating, their eyes wild with excitement as they breathlessly provide hour-by-hour updates. Stores are stocked, aisles are jammed, and folks are getting ready. It’s 45F right now but expected to drop with rain then ice then snow then .. trees down, ice and snow, etc. Regardless what happens .. we’ll be as ready as we can be. #WinterinMI

3 ) Thieves – over the Christmas break I had my credit card number skimmed at a local (chain) retail store. Thankfully I have alerts set up and received a message, via text, about suspicious activity. (The text also looked suspicious, to be honest). I didn’t respond to the text but instead called the credit card company, verified my identity, and confirmed I was home in my jammies and not trying to book a Hotel in Delaware! After that whole mess I set up additional alerts to the account – transactions > a certain amount, change in security, debit charges, withdrawals, etc. Make technology work for you! If you have a credit card, I suggest you set up similar stop-gaps. Thieves have no problem helping themselves to your good credit and assets. #StillAngry

P.S. ~

After the “skimming” incident I called the store where I’m certain the thievery happened and asked to speak to the manager. What sounded like a 12 year old came to the phone. *SIGH* After explaining my dilemma and urging her to check their security/IT network she countered that, “Oh no, that couldn’t have happened here ’cause we.. like … check our machines.. like … all the time.” When I offered that there is a current problem (since I hadn’t otherwise used the card in nearly a month anywhere else OR online and the attempted charges happened 2 hours after I shopped at their store) she responded with, “Well OK then … no worries, Thanks for the call ….” It was obvious, by her dismissive response that I wasn’t getting anywhere with Mandi with an i and ended the call.

#PutAlertsonYourCredit #CantFixStupid

What’s new in your world?

Any milestones happening around you?
Storms a-coming?
Tech tips or other thoughts to share?

Categories: Animals, Attitude, Blogging, Determination, Growth, Home, Humor, Life, Life Lessons, Technology | Tags: alarms, bad customer service, cant fix stupid, clocks, credit alerts, credit card hack, credit skim, milestones, preparedness, retirement, storms, winter | 6 Comments

That feeling ~ New Year’s 2019

Posted on December 31, 2019 by emjayandthem

December 31, 2019 ~ I woke to a darkened house, blanketed in quiet from the snow swirling down. It’s New Year’s Eve ~ and here we are on the cusp of a new month, a new year, a new decade.

Just like that.

When asked my resolutions for 2020 and I answered quickly – it’s simple, really. All I have to do is look back at the past 11 days off, and therein lives my answer.

In 2020 I’ll try my best to recreate that ~

That feeling, as winter winds roar outside the windows and you lift your head up from reading for 4 hours straight, plowing through magazines and books without a care or a distraction, a deadline or a phone call.
That feeling, stretching and waking gently, without the glaring jolt of an alarm.
That feeling, when you listen to your body and move it a little more, haul the boxes and work up a sweat taking down and packing up and catch yourself smiling because it’s only 9:30 a.m. and you’ve been up for 3 hours already.
That feeling, between two major holidays, when you’re not sure which day it is – is it a work day? is it a week day? And you have to consult the calendar to confirm. And laugh about it.
That feeling when your sustenance consists of coffee, bacon, eggs, cheese, pickles and clementines.

Nope, no New Year/New You for me. Not this year. I’m gonna focus on finding more of that feeling denoted above.

Your turn:

How are you ringing in the new year?
Do you resolve to do things differently?
Do you want more of what you already have?

“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. When life is bitter, say thank you and grow.” —Shauna Niequist

Happy * New * Year *

Categories: Attitude, Blogging, Confidence at any age, Determination, Food, Growth, Holidays, Home, Humor, Joy, Life, News, Opinion, Personal, Self Discovery, Snarky, Thoughts | Tags: being home, Books, celebrations, contentment, cozy, holiday, home, meme, new year, New Year New Me, quotes, resolutions, Shauna Niequist, state of mind, thoughts, vacation, When life is sweet say thank you and celebrate. when life is bitter say thank you and grow, winter | 6 Comments

Happy Boxing Day!

Posted on December 26, 2019 by emjayandthem

Happy Boxing Day!

Growing up in Canada, our holidays were chock-full of British influence; Canada is a jewel in the Commonwealth’s crown, after all. Mom used to tease us that Boxing Day was a day to clean up and box up (a ploy she cleverly used to get us to tidy the house).

As a child, Boxing Day was a full day of fun –a day of sledding & skating with cousins, adults playing cards, with everyone still full from feasting the day before. As we got older Boxing Day brought dances and Curling socials, a time to visit all who’d come home for the Christmas holiday.

google.images.com

Now it’s more commercialized with stores open for gift returns and clearance sale prices.

But for me, it’s still a day to visit and we will be doing just that ~ And with temps approaching 60F here in West MI (not a snowflake in sight) we have the perfect weather to do so!

– To learn more about Boxing Day visit https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/26/world/boxing-day-facts-trnd/index.htm

So … what are you up to today?

Categories: Blogging, Family, Fun, Holidays, Home, Joy, Life, Personal, Uncategorized | Tags: Boxing Day, Canada, fun, Holidays, traditions, visiting | Leave a comment

Random 5 Friday ~ Bored & busy, dogs, rules and Grover

He is not here

Happy Easter

12 Tiny Things You Can Do Right Now

Random 5 Friday ~ Soup, Social Distancing & Life Lessons

Control your controllable(s)

Random 5 Saturday ~ Birthdays, Rinks and COVID19

Can’t say no

The heart has no wrinkles

Happy Valentines Day !

Fri-yay 3 ~ Milestones, Storms and Thieves

That feeling ~ New Year’s 2019

Happy * New * Year *

Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day!

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