A Number of Things

Self Portrait - circa 1988

I'm getting sick and tired of posting snow pictures, hence I went a completely different direction with this post by including a self-portrait of myself back when I was taking photography at university. Oh, the good ol' days...when I had zippo money, no daughter yet and I was happy living on my own, albeit in a rental apt on the main floor of a house where I encountered my first BAT!!

And I'm pretty sure the upstairs neighbour was selling drugs out of his apartment as I'd hear people clunking up and down his staircase at all hours of the night.

What I LOVED about my apartment was my huge treed back yard. I used to spend a lot of time back there - it was peaceful and very full of green growing things. There were tiny little violets that grew wild all over the lawn and since then I've always loved the colour combination of green and violet. I dug up a square parcel of grass and planted more flowers. It really was an oasis of calm for reading my huge and expensive textbooks and studying for exams. Isn't it wonderful that for everything bad in a situation (drug dealer, BATS) there is something equally good.  It's a good reminder to always look for that silver lining because it IS THERE. We might not see it right away, but we will find it if we make the effort.

Interesting how one photo can evoke such powerful memories. I must revisit my old photos more often. I look back at the skinnier me and feel proud of myself.  I suffered a lot by choosing to hang out with the wrong boyfriends but what I made out of my life gives me hope for my daughter's future. My dad used to say that what he admired most about me was my "spunk". In the moment I didn't really understand what he meant, but looking back over my life I get it. And I can see examples of that feistiness in my daughter's life as she deals with working at a nightclub called Jack's here in London. (more about that in a future post)

I've been getting away from talking about MONEY lately in my posts. I am finding that with my balanced budget things are pretty much looking after themselves. I have automatic payments set up for everything - bills and savings and we are managing quite nicely to stay within food, gas and misc budget amounts. I think NO SPEND FEBRUARY has really given me the discipline I need to control my spending.

Yesterday Michael and I went to see "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt and it was soooooo good and soooooo applicable to our own relationship that we just stayed in this "movie buzz" for the rest of the evening. I'm still feeling the after effects today - it was one great movie with it's main premise that LOVE can conquer all. Go see it! We used our gift cards and sat in the VIP section - very comfortable:)

Today my spending will be limited to a $3 newspaper and a Timmy's coffee. The only other money I spent this week was $20 for an ink cartridge for our printer.

Life is good.