Breanne 'procrastinator' McLean

I'm not sure why this is, but I like to procrastinate things till the very last mintue before it has to be done. I am not sure if it is because I have no conception of time, or if it is just because I am lazy. There are only 24 more days till we are on the road moving our stuff back to Nelson and I haven't packed a single thing. The same thing happened to me when we lived in Cranbrook. Cam came home from firefighting the week before the movers were coming to help me with some last minute packing, and to his surprise I hadn't packed a single thing. So, we managed to get all of our belongings packed in two nights, and have everything ready to go for the movers. We don't own a lot of stuff so it really doesn't take that long. I don't like living in a house that is empty. It just feels cold and bare so I will hold off packing for as long as I can. However, with this move I want to purge through my belongings and get rid of many of the things I have that I don't need anymore.

Even with with wedding I found myself procrastinating things till the last minute. If it weren't for my sister I don't think I would have been able to pull it off. I think maybe I think of myself as super woman and I can whip off anything and do anything is a short amount of time. I guess I just don't think about how long certain things will take me to accomplish. I suppose the worst thing about being a procrastinator is that I cause myself a lot more stress than is needed for any situation. Even with that baby blanket that I did for my friends I think I finished it about two weeks before we were leaving to visit them. The end product was beautiful, but I caused myself a lot of stress trying to finish it in time to give it to them. Oh the life I lead for myself.

So I guess that brings me to my epiphany on this topic..... I need to be more assertive and more of a go getter and just do the things I need to do as they arise. I am a planner by nature so it just doesn't make any sense that I procrastinate things. We will see how this goes. I think that the move will all work out just fine even if I wait till the last week to pack, life always has a way of working itself out.

Banff for the weekend!!!

Any chance I get to have a three-day weekend I will take. Fortunately Cam was able to take the Friday off so that we could both have a three-day weekend together. Friends of ours invited us to join them in Banff for the weekend. We would rent a chalet/condo for the weekend and live it up in Banff. The nice thing is that the suite is complete with a kitchen with everything from utensils to a full sized fridge and stove.

So this morning we woke up around 8:30 and got ourselves out of bed, showered, and ready to go. We were busy packing and making sure that we didn’t forget anything. My heart went out to Zoe because we have arranged for Danielle and Ryan to look after her for the weekend. So she got to watch us pack and leave her behind. Then we were off.

I don’t think I really appreciated the mountains or just the general beauty of our provinces joining together till I moved to Edmonton and my new skyline and view were tall buildings. The Rockie Mountains are something to be admired. I love them this time of year because they are capped with snow, yet the roads are still relatively dry. Living in BC, I’ve now realized, I took the beauty and the enjoyment of it all for granted. There are so many activities that you can do. Hikes, bike rides, snowshoeing, cross country skiing. Now you can do all of that stuff in Edmonton too, but the scenic views are lacking. I guess if you aren’t into that kind of stuff then Edmonton is great. There is a lot to do here, but most of those activities occur indoors.

We made good time and arrived in time to meet up with your friends and go in to town to have a quick bite to eat before our supper reservations at the Fairmont Castle in the Mountains here. It was an amazing meal and amazing service. Saturday our day included a great breakfast and then we were off on a road trip to the Athabasca Ice Fields. It was amazing up there and just looking at how far that glacier has traveld and the debris it has left behind. It was very cold and windy there, thank goodness for car starters to get the car warmed up before you get in :o) We went out for a really nice supper to Saltlik Steak House. I belive it was called. It was good. I don't know what it is about the service in Banff, but it is a wonderful experience. It is almost like the people are happy to be there working and serving you. It is a nice change from some of the service you recieve in the city. Once we were done with supper we wondered over to Wild Bills bar. It is very rustic, but enjoyable. After a few drinks we headed back to the room to drink some more and have a fire.

Sunday we just got up and left early. We were going to go into town and shop around, but we decieded that we just wanted to get home at a reasonable time and get ready for work on Monday. Besides the pug probalby missed us and wanted to go home. All in all it was a great weekend with great friends! I would love to go back to Banff, but I think I want to see it in the summer months. Or even late spring. I don't mind the snow, but it is really quite cold there with the wind. It chills you to the bone. I am glad to be home cuddling with the pug and my husband on the couch watching the Grey Cup. What else would I be doing on a Sunday afternoon?

De-junking and De-cluttering

39 Days and counting till we move back to BC! The next 6 weeks are going to go by so quickly I won't even know what hit me. Between plans that have already been made, to Christmas parties, to packing Cam and myself are going to be quite frantic getting everything organized and ready to move. This weekend we decided to get a start on it. So we went down into the basement to take a little inventory of stuff that we have, and get rid of the stuff that we don't need anymore. There was a huge pile by the end of our tirade, stuff to get thrown out, stuff to go to Goodwill, and boxes we need to keep to pack the stuff we have upstairs. Like my mom says though, no matter how organized you are, you are still going to be busy and frantic getting everything packed up. I want to disagree with her because I think that Cam and I did a pretty good job this weekend getting everything together and separating things that need to go to the dump, or go to Goodwill. We have all the boxes organized in a corner of our basement that are waiting to be filled and ready to go. We have always had the room to store boxes so we have managed to keep the majority of boxes from stuff that we have bought, for example: my kitchen aid mixer box, or our x-box box, or the box from our computer. So that will make packing that majority of the belonging that we are still using easy. Our philosophy when cleaning up is; if we haven't used it in the last year that we have lived here we obviously don't need it at all. I find it hard to let go of some things, only because some things hold some sentimental value to me, but I have to be realistic when it comes down to it. Even when I am packing the stuff that we still have out I will be eliminating a lot of it. Because for the past year and a half it has just sat there and not been used, so I don't see me requiring it down the road. I have gotten along just fine for the last year without it. If that make sense?
We really don't own a lot of stuff, so moving for us will be rather straight forward. I am just excited to what the new year holds for Cam and me. It will be interesting to see where we are this time next year. I am hoping in our own house.

First Snow of the Year

Sunday morning I woke up rather early due to the time change. So I was out of bed making my coffee at about 8:00 am.....on a Sunday I know pathetic. Meanwhile the pug and Cam slept upstairs. I don't have many complaints with it though. Only because if Cam and the dog are both upstairs sleeping that gives me my time to do what I need to get done and things I want to do. Usually when they are up I have to entertain both of them. Whether it be taking the dog out, giving her a treat, feeding her, or playing with her.... to giving Cam things to do, or entertain him in one way shape or form. Usually there is football on so I can put that on and he is happier than a pig in mud. So, I really do enjoy the few hours of the weekend mornings that I get time to myself. This Sunday morning I woke up to snow. There was a good blanket of snow on the ground! Usually this would upset me and make me want to curl back up into bed and hide from the fact that winter is approaching us. Not today, I embraced the fact that there was this white snow on the ground and the sun was shinning brightly through the windows. It made me really happy. All day Sunday I was thinking about how great the holiday season is and how much I enjoy going home to the Kootenays. Generally I don't like snow because I don't like winter driving. It scares the crap out of me. But today I didn't really have to go anywhere or do anything.
Then Cam got up and decided that we had to be productive humans today and actually do something other than sitting on the couch. We only had till 2:00pm because that is when kick-off was for the Indy/Dallas game. So we went and did our running around the city, we went to Rona (to fix the door I kicked in, I guess I did more damage than I had thought), Save-On-Food, and London Drugs (so I can finally finish the thank you cards I have been procrastinating, although I did just get the professional pictures). It felt a lot like Christmas out there while we were out. The decorations are coming out, the trees are put up in the stores to be sold.... all this kind of stuff excites me more than Cam would like. He isn't a big fan of Christmas, but I am working on that. AHHHH I love the holiday season. All the baking, and the holiday cheer.
The pug loves the snow. She loves to go out and eat it, and run around in it. It wasn't quite deep enough for her to really enjoy it, but I am sure more is coming soon. So pull out your mitts, scarfs, and toques people the snow is a comin'!