Thankful Thursdays #36 – March 4th, 2021

This is one of my favourite posts, because I get to talk about what I am thankful for the past week. It is always a good and fun way to end the day, or week with a grateful heart. I would love to hear about yours in the comments.

There are so many benefits of practicing gratitude, so you have never to lose by practicing it. Some of the benefits of gratitude, is you sleep better, and easier, you help lower your stress levels, so it might even be harder for you to feel stress. You also increase your immune system, which helps you decrease your chances of getting sick.

Here is my list from last week…

1. I am thankful that we got to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday. He loved his present, and that I made him brunch, and dinner for us.
2. I am grateful for being able to go through all of belongings from my old room.
3. I am thankful that I am starting to declutter again, it really helps me reorganize, and make more room for the things I enjoy.
4. I am happy that I was able to spend some time with my sister while I was babysitting my niece. Normally she works all day, and then by the time she is done work, it’s dinner, and then my niece goes to bed, and then my sister gets ready for bed, shortly afterwards. But on Tuesday we were able to hang out, and take my niece out to the park, and for a walk. It was a lot of fun.
5. I am grateful for being able to allocate our finances to pay down our debts. I am really happy that we are on the right path to be debt free. It’s going to take us a little while, but we have spent some time working on what to pay off next. Which is really exciting.

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Thankful Thursday #35 – February 25th, 2021

Hey everyone! I have so much to be thankful for this week.

This is one of my favourite posts that I get to write. Each week I write about all that I was thankful throughout the week. I would love to hear your list.

1. I am thankful for my mother inviting me over for dinner on Wednesday, it was a nice treat. I haven’t seen my Grandparents in awhile, so I was happy to spend time with them.
2. When I babysat my niece last Tuesday, my sister helped my niece make something for me for Valentine’s Day. I was so grateful for that. It’s a picture that she coloured. It’s so cute! My sister bought me chocolates.
3. I am grateful that I started getting into a stricter routine of yoga. I made a promise to myself that I couldn’t go to bed to bed, until I logged in some minutes of yoga. I learned that it is okay to skip one day, but once you skip two days in a row, it makes getting back into the routine so much harder.
4. I am thankful that my boyfriend and I started playing a new game on his phone that has been a lot of fun. It gives us something more to bond over.
5. I am grateful that my boyfriend and I spent a lot of time together. His hours were effected because of the pandemic, so he was home a little more than usual. And that’s okay. But it made us more appreciative for the things we have already.

Day 54

This lesson is from Tuesday.

I help my sister out by babysitting my niece because my sister, and boyfriend work on throughout the week. My niece is almost two years old. Even though it’s winter where we live, I try to take her outside for some fresh air. I just make sure she is all bundled up to go outside. She has a good time. We usually go sledding, or I just take her to the park, and watch her play. I push her in the swings. She seems to have a lot of fun outside.

I like to take her outside right before her nap. Well I let her have to something to eat before her nap. But I like to think that her being out before her nap, helps her feel tired for her nap, which gives her a deeper sleep.

It is also important for us, even as adults to go outside, and get some fresh air. Even if we only have five minutes to spare. Bonus if you go out while the sun is out. Going outside helps relaxes us, too. I’ve been getting outside by taking a walk in my neighbourhood, or by walking to the library.

Today, I will make an effort that ensures I get some form of fresh air every day. Whether it to take a walk, or to just have a cup of coffee or tea on the patio, or balcony or front porch. Don’t let the cold weather stop you from enjoying the benefits of being outside. Always bundle up, and watch out for any ice, if there is any.

Day 47

So my original plan was to babysit my niece since my sister works today. But my sister’s boyfriend checked on the road conditions, and realized that they were bad. He made the executive decision to stay home from work, since it snowed a lot overnight! I wasn’t needed to babysit my niece since she was going to spend the day with her dad today. My boyfriend also had the day off, too.

So we got to spend an extra day together, since he was off yesterday, as well. I was so excited! We got to relax today, we watched Tarzan, I haven’t seen that movie in so long. And I swept, and washed the floor, since I don’t normally get to do it today. So that was a good feeling to get that done. It was a great day to relax, and make time for getting small errands done around the house, too. I also got to make some time to read some books. I love snow days.

Today, I will use days off, or snow days, depending on where you live, as a day for fun, but also for a day that I can accomplish my chores, and errands around the house. It is important to dedicate some time for chores, but it’s also important to spend time having fun as a reward.

Thankful Thursdays #33 – February 11th, 2021

I love talking about I am thankful for every week. I hope you are able to take some time and begin reflecting on what you are grateful for, and are able to have gratitude towards.

Here is my list… Feel free to share yours.

1. I got to babysit my niece twice in a week, we had a lot of fun. I got to take her out sledding, which she always enjoys. I love seeing her smile.
2. I am thankful that I got to make a craft with her to give to her parents for Valentine’s Day. My sister loved it!
3. I am grateful that my boyfriend and I got to spend an extra day together, we spent it watching a movie, and watching our shows.
4. I was reading to my niece Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I was so grateful and happy when my niece wanted to hear another poem. She loves it when I read to her. She loves looking at all of the illustrations, and helping me turn the pages.
5. Lastly, I am grateful that I got to spend some time with my sister when she came back from work.

I know there are probably other things I am thankful for, but this is my top five.

Day 42

I got to babysit my niece for an extra day last week. She normally sees her grandparents but they were busy that day, so I got to watch her. The day before I babysat, I was thinking of making this cute art and craft for my sister and her boyfriend as a Valentine’s Day present. My niece is almost 2 years old, so I had a few craft ideas that she could do.

I decided that I can try to trace her hands to make a heart, and then I traced her feet to make another heart. I put her show on, and I put her in her chair. It turned out nice, despite that I didn’t get it into heart shapes. I let her give it to my sister. My sister thought that was super cute, she loved it!

Something that Gretchen Rubin reminded me to do was, “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good” in her book, The Happiness Project. It means that you can’t let yourselves get so caught up with perfection, that everything around you loses its beauty. You just got to remind yourself that you did your best.

I like to think that her craft was beautifully done. But there are other times where I have to remind myself that it’s okay for things to be messy, like how she loves to keep her toys all sprawled throughout the living room. Or how I sometimes get bothered that her pants are crocked. It’s small things like this. I am trying hard to look pass this. I’m not a mom, so it may or may not take me longer to get over this. I know there might be some people saying that I will miss the mess when she is older.

Today, I am reminded that I must look pass the imperfections, and see that the world can be a beautiful place. I will accept the fact that the world doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Don’t let yourself to miss out on things because you would rather see the imperfections, rather than the beauty of the imperfections.

Day 41

I got to watch my niece twice this week, which was really exciting! I like to follow the superstitions for the Lunar New Year, which is to not clean, especially not to sweep, as they believe you are “sweeping” away your luck. I knew that I was going to be watching her on the Thursday, and I knew I was going to stay at my sister’s late. So I made sure on the Wednesday that my house was relatively clean. I cleaned my bathroom, and kitchen, and then tidied my room. I was all ready for the Lunar New Year!

I spent the whole day on Wednesday freshening up my place. What helped was that I have a chore/cleaning schedule already in placed. Having a cleaning schedule is really useful, and helpful. I find it so much easier to set aside 15-20 minutes a day, then it is setting aside four hours in one day. I feel like it’s less stressful, as well.

Today, I will try to eliminate stress by organizing and planning my chores every day, instead of finding one day throughout the week to do all of my chores. I can now use the day that I would spend my time cleaning, as a day of rest instead.

Hazelnut Chocolate Tea Latte

When I was at my sister’s house, I got to try this new tea, that I have been wanting to try for a few weeks now. I was so happy to see that they bought some.

It is a pur’eh tea, so it is an energizing tea. Which is helpful when I babysit my niece. Mostly because my sister and her boyfriend work early, which means I have to be at their house early.

I tried a cup at my sister’s house, and grabbed a tea bag for later.

This tea was creamy, and decadent. It tasted exactly like the chocolate hazelnut spread. I can eat that by the spoon full. I will definitely be buying more this soon.

Day 40

This lesson is from Tuesday.

For those who are new to my blog, I like to write about a lesson and an affirmation that I either learned that day, or sometime ago throughout my life. I hope my wisdom helps inspire others.

I got the pleasure to baby sit my niece on Tuesday. I love that I get to hang out with her. It’s currently our winter right now, so I am able to take her outside and let her play in the snow. She loves sledding. I make sure she is all bundled up since it has been really cold over here. It sort of reminds me in the fall time, that even though it may look nice out, I should still bring a sweater with me, just in case. In the winter time, I like to bundle up, too. But it just brought back a memory of the times where I felt like I didn’t need to bring a sweater, and in fact, I actually did.

Today, I will for sure bundle up to ensure that I stay warm and cozy, no matter how nice the weather may be. It’s best to be warm, and cozy, than cold, and sorry.

Day 35

Hey, sorry about being absent for the past few days. On Thursday I was babysitting my niece, and then I spent Friday, and today reading. I hope everyone is doing well.

What I learned from Thursday was that it taught that it is important to help others in a time of need. Like me, I help out my sister by watching my niece while my sister and her boyfriend are at work. It also gives me to spend the day with my niece, and we have a lot of fun. We play outside, we watch her shows, and we have “tea” parties. I am more than happy to help out. I hope you are able to help someone out, whether it be a loved one, or a stranger. You may never know who is in need of help. There are many ways you can help each other out, it can with your time, or money. You can decide what you are able to give to others. Something I always say is that whatever we send out to the universe, it comes back to us multiplied.

Today, I will extend myself to ensure that I help at least one person a day. We may not know exactly what everyone is going through, but we have the ability to help others have a better tomorrow.