About Therapy...

This morning I started my "blue" light therapy which is supposed to get me through the winter blues. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is the name the specialists have chosen for a life-event that  occurs at the same time each year, to otherwise mentally healthy individual (please, no comments from the peanut gallery) , and causes depressive symptoms. In my case it is because of the decrease in periods of sunshine I experience daily.  I miss it so much, my neurotransmitters go on strike!  So i'm hoping that a daily 30 minutes session of basking in blue light (blue summer sky) will re-energize me enough to keep away the grumps in these grey months.  We shall see.

I was also reading about "red" light therapy, which is supposed to stimulate collagen and elastin production thus reducing and even reversing the effects of aging on our skin.  WOW!  The Fountain of Youth finally at our fingertips! I really want some of that too but it's probably too late to write to Big "S" about it now. 

Now what I need to find is some sort of "green" light therapy I can put into action on my lawn.  I'm thinking it could use some type of treatment where the green color would stay all summer long, without the need to water it or even more IMPORTANT, without growing so I won't have to cut it!!! 

Now,  it’s not that I am lazy or anything BUT, I am trying to maximize my days by doing only important actions that can only be done through my unique genius mind!  Imagine if I did every little chore that comes to mind, I would never have enough time for the crucial and essential things which must be done such as picking up dog hair and blogging.

I'm so excited about my idea... Sorry, must run now. Gotta go retrieve my old green Christmas lightbulbs I just put in recycling. Can't blame me for trying- that would be the greatest invention since... well ... moldy sliced bread!

That's it for now! Salut!

Better  be a Little "S" than a Little Less J

about Movember

Now, you might think I’m a month late with this subject but I  respectfully request that you consider that I am 11 months early instead!  J

One of my best friends in the world came up with a great idea:   Since guys get to forego shaving for the entire month of November , why wouldn’t us  gals do the same to show our support!  She suggests us ladies not shave our legs for a month – but of course, I am no specialist so I consulted with my panel of experts:

A:  My boss:  “as long as we can’t see the stubble sticking out through your stockings , you Go Girl!
B:  My Significant Other:   I don’t have one so it’s a moot point (for me)  J
C: My Mom: “Yes, good idea! Maybe you’ll have time to get started on your Christmas cards in time so we receive  them before Valentines’ Day” .  MOOOOOM!!!  ;
D: My dogs:   “The hairier the better!”
E:  My neighbors:  Just kidding, I did not ask them J
F :  My Day-Timer:  November has come and gone so it’s easy to commit when I don’t have to act on it for another 11 months  J 

And the final answer is:   Looks unanimous to me or at least, I’ve got a quorum!

Now I’ve decided I can be a “Mo Sista”, by using my leg-shaving time in a fulfilling manner such as:  

1.    writing my Blog;

2.    vacuuming my floors;

3.    get back to my exercise Wii Zumba;

4.    taking my dogs for an extra long walk.

How does this help promote Men’s health you ask?   Well, every time someone will comment on my furry legs, I will take a minute to prompt a conversation around the often ignored (on purpose)  issue of men’s health, and hope that no one will want to duke it out or change sides of the street when they see me coming!

Of course, just like  Woman’s health is so very critical, why should Men’s health not be?  We need our men healthy all over; we know how to help with their headaches, colds, flu, aching muscles… why should we not be able to recommend how they can help themselves with other potential health problems which seem “embarrassing” to them?  And women, please don’t quit after November 30^th!   We need our sons, fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands healthy ALL YEAR long!    Do we only get Mammograms and PAP smears one month of the year?    Do we ignore blatant symptoms that make us uncomfortable 11 months a year because it doesn’t feel right and we are not ready to overcome our embarrassment?
To be healthy and knowledgeable is empowering to all of us.  I’d rather be embarrassed and healthy than comfortable and sick ~ (is there such a thing?)  ~It’s like going tanning to look healthy as we suffer from skin cancer! ~

That’s it for now !  Salut mes amis!

Better be a Little “S” than a Little Less  J

About Learning Other Languages:

I have always been intrigued by the different languages of the world.  When I was in school, one of my dreams was to become an interpreter for the UN.

So I started with English, which came easy for me because my dad was already bilingual and we had so much exposure to songs and TV shows from the USA that it was hard to miss . I also took a couple of years of latin; no, not too useful for everyday use, however, very rewarding when we play Trivial Pursuit because the root of so many words come from there that I got to rock at it BIG time!  J  Spanish was a good follow through and I had a great time with that one!  …. Then came German…. mmmmmmmmmm – not so much fun.  We all spent so much time laughing at me speaking German with a Spanish accent, that we wasted a lot of time– I’m actually surprised they did not kick me out of the class!
Now my sister and I are teaching each other Russian words ~ not that we know how to pronounce them but at least we can spell them! ~  Very rudimentary but still a lot of fun.

In the last year though, I have encountered another dialect which I cannot make heads or tails of… here is an example of a conversation I heard:

- “I’m ready to go,” he said, patting his camera.  “I got the new D3 with the 200-400 f.4 VR  AF-S.  Good ISO up to 6400, I can go to 12800 if I have to, but there’ll be some noise.  Twelve megapixels so we get plenty of resolution.  With this baby, you can really reach out and touch somebody.”
-“That’s great,” she replied.
-“… and I’ve been out shooting a little wildlife, to familiarize myself with the whole system.  The white balance and auto-focus is as good as I’ve seen.  I tested it against a 1DsIII  and the D3 is better.”
?????????  Quis est is?  Was ist los?,  Qu’est-ce-que c’est?, No comprende ????????
I’m afraid I need an interpreter for that one , or…. maybe it’s a secret code that I’m not meant  to make sense of…  What do you think?

Salut!
Goodbye!
Vale!
Hasta la vista!
Auf Widersehen! 
Do Svidanja !

Signing off – don’t forget  to  Point and Click!
Better be a Little "S" than a Little Less!  J

About self-defense!

Did you know that there are plants out there that "close up" as soon as you touch them?  
 WOW!  Why can't i act that way?

I have recently started a "Boundaries" class and am learning so much about myself - all things that i should have known all along and wish i had learned in school.  "Elementary my dear Little S!" 
 Oh well... better late than never! 

I was always trying to be a good little girl, an exemplary daughter, the best sister, an honors' student, a model wife and the perfect employee... Guess what?  I am now a wreck because i never learned to say NO and gave of myself until it really hurt me.

Now with  baby steps, i am discovering the world of boundaries that protect me, the fences that shield me from harm and the ability to state my feelings without feeling guilty every time. It feels so delivering!

So, if you see a person clanking around walking on the street in a full metallic body armor, that'll be me.  As i get to know me better and you show no threat, i should be able to shed some of those shields when i trust i won't get hurt.  Hey,  just keeping myself safe!  So watch out and be patient with me - my armor will disappear when i feel secure.

Hey - could be worse!  Porcupines and skunks don’t protect themselves in such a friendly manner!

Signing off -  Salut for now! clink clank clink clank!

Better be a Little "S" than a Little Less!  :-)

About living purposefully…

I remember being a teenager and my dad querying me on something I had done:   “Are you stupid or did you do that on purpose?”     Well, what kind of a question is that?  To me, there has to be a couple more options than those two , don’t you think?

But really, why should there be?   I can just imagine what Dad would have I said if I replied with the following:

·         “I plead the Fifth Amendment!”; 

·         “I will not say anything without my lawyer present” ;

·         “It’s none of your business!”  (got a whack for that one!)

·         “That’s for me to know and for you to find out! “ (another whack!)

So instead of exploring this black hole of my daddy’s disappointment in me, I decided to live on purpose. Yes, that means that I am willing to admit having done a stupid thing because I will know I did it on purpose and there was some reasoning on my part even if the other party does not agree!  

·          “I don’t know”  will no longer be an excuse;
·          Neither will “Because….”;

·         “I can’t make up my mind” will not keep me from living my life.

I believe that if you don’t make mistakes, it’s because you have not tried hard enough;

I am a believer of “Go Big or Go Home!” - 

Don’t be a shadow on this planet!!!  You  too can shine!

Let’s make a difference.

Hasta la vista:

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J

Flouf – de – Floufs

Most people have dust bunnies… agree?   Well, how come I have dust ELEPHANTS!?!?

So I have to vacuum my house twice a day while the dogs are shedding their undercoat ; that’s life when you own Siberian Huskies  – but you need to know what happened this morning~    I got out of bed, late, as I blogged before, however not oblivious to the fact that I can do that, I’m a grown up~J

So, ok, there’s dog hair floating around (what else is new?) and now, I decide to fluff up my comforter~     Well, little did I know that there was a seam popped somewhere and now, I have dog hair AND feathers everywhere in my bedroom.   Nice (not).

I swear, it looks like the dogs and chickens had a fight and I think the chickens won~

There are so many feathers, I can knit a few chickens from the feathers available  as well as a few dogs because I have so much dog hair, I’m sure we can go half and half and have 2 dogs and 2 chickens fight for it and decide who’s the winner…

I had no idea life would be so complicated and that the vacuum cleaner would have such a crucial part in my daily life!  The question is not:  To Be or Not To Be!, it is: To Flouf or Not To Flouf!.  

Flouffing should not be undergone without universal warnings.  You never know what's going to come  out of it!

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a Little Less  J

About alarm clocks.

Don’t you just love to hate them?   I sure do.

I have never needed an alarm clock – EVER…. Until I moved to this cute little house with reliable neighbors (or so I thought!) .  One of their vehicles is 134 years old and needs a new muffler; it is so noisy that when they leave at 5AM on the button, I wake up if I’m not already up.

I’ve been kind of a night owl, going to sleep at 9:30, sleeping for 3 hours, then reading for an hour and going back to snooze… until one of the dogs or the cat jumps on me to get me out of bed.   So I’ve been relying on Bella ~my 65 lbs Husky girl who jumps on my queen side bed and plunks herself on my pillow ~  or Missy ~who starts pitty-patting my head purring as loud as she can OR the neighbor who is never late leaving USUALLY.

This morning, I woke up on my own at 5:32AM !   No dogs, no cats, no noisy car!   Late, late, late, I need a white rabbit!   I will definitely have to go have a chat with the neighbors and berate them for the following:

·         Fixing their muffler without advising me; and/or

·         Getting a new vehicle without consulting with me; and/or

·         Having a day off without warning me.

I think that’s fair, don’t you?  Why should I be responsible for getting up on time all by myself?

Salut to all and TGIF!

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a Little Less  J

Fishy Crackers

Don’t you just love those tiny cheddary crackers?   Small enough to fit a few of them nicely in your mouth and still look polite.  They taste “insane” in cream of tomato soup and… I have discovered lately, they are also out of this world when dipped in soft cream cheese!

What you need is a handful of crackers on a plate; then, you grab a large tablespoon-full of soft cream cheese and drop it on that same plate.  Then, of course, after putting the rest of the cream cheese away back in the fridge, you grab one little fishy cracker by the tail, smile back at him, dip his nose in the cream cheese et voila!  Absolutely delish!  Continue doing the same until you run out of fishy crackers or of cream cheese.  You will then notice that you never run out of both at the same time – this is where the fun starts:  you grab more cream cheese and continue to eat the crackers and pretty soon, you’ll be out of crackers but lots of cheese left, and so on and so on and so on.  You could be eating fishy crackers and cream cheese until the cows come home and never get even!   Yummy!

It reminds me of one of my favorite desserts when I was a kid still living at home.  A bowl of REAL maple syrup in front of me, a fresh slice of bread in my hand and then you dip the bread in the maple syrup and savour those two rich tastes together… bliss.    And pretty soon, just like my previous example, A, you run out of bread before you’re done with your maple syrup or B, out of maple syrup but still some bread in your hand and there you go, replenishing one and then the  other, until 30 minutes later Mom says...“That’s enough guys… time to do the dishes”.  Wah.

Of course I want my cake and eat it too, isn’t that what cake is for?  What kind of an expression is that?  Just like someone asking me if I wanted ice cream or whipped cream on my apple cobbler when I was 8 months pregnant.  I said YES! 

I take the bull by the horns and run like mad with a smile on my face!    Salut tout le monde!

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a Little Less  J

I Ate A Bug!

This morning, I was walking the dogs, singing away, ( no, it was not raining)  and a bug flew right into my mouth!   I choked and gasped and scared my poor puppies to death!   A passerby stopped to ask me if I needed help and I was really hoping I was not going to upchuck that poor bug right in front of him!   Poor guy, watching someone vomit so early in the morning is NOT conducive to a great start of the day when you haven’t even had your breakfast yet.  I eventually recovered and we finished our walk  without further ado.

Now, I can’t say for sure that it was better when the bug flew in my eye last week..  That time I rubbed my eye lots to dislodge the unwanted guest but at least I refrained from puking.   I swear, people would rather see you cry  than throw up – Go figure!      So,  why am I talking about this today?  Why does it seem important?  Well, I’ll tell you my reasoning!

A lot of little things get in our way, on a daily basis.  It’s not always bugs!  And mostly, it’s not  major:  Sometimes we misplace our keys, or forget the grocery list at home and only remember when we’re already at the store and the cat won’t answer the phone to read it back to you.   Sometimes it’s a rude driver who passes us on the way to work and other times it’s finding out that there is no more milk in the fridge for your coffee and you really needed your fix and cannot drink it black.   Wah!

I really need to give my head a shake once in a while and really prioritize what I should consider “end of the world events”:

·         The dogs played Nascar in the hall again and knocked over a plant:  NO

·         The dogs escaped from the yard and just about got run over by the car,  YES

·         The grass in the backyard is so tall, I can hardly see my patio furniture:  NO

·         The grass in the backyard is so tall, someone could be hiding in there and attack me if I walk by:  YES

·         I burned the toast:   NO

·         I burned down the house:  YES

·         I swallowed a bug:  NO

·         A bug swallowed me:  YES YES YES

Know what I mean, Jean?  It’s all a matter of perception however,  I must learn to not be so excitable when there is no reason to.    My dad would say:  “Will you remember that the day you get married?”…  I am still pondering on that!   The moral of the story is to keep my mouth closed when I walk the dogs  J

Just these wise words, I hope, to help me keep things in check, and to make sure that if I’m going to give myself a heart attack, it will be worth it!

Having said my piece, I now say SALUT!

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J

Voice Lesson

Had my second voice lesson yesterday…. Very interesting…  Only 2 of us showed up for the group lesson so we each got a lot more attention than we normally would have.

We’ve been learning to breathe right (and often) and to “O” and “A” and “OO” along.  We are doing scales in staccato and legato – don’t I feel smart today!    J

It’s fascinating to understand the mechanics of it all.  The movement of air between lungs, sternum, throat, upper palate, jaw….  Totally amazing – For something done so naturally, it is quite the process.

Of course, we have homework:  15-20 minutes a day, we are to practice our scales and breathing.  My dogs love that time of day,   As soon as I start singing, Nicky starts howling and Bella follows suit… and then I get the giggles and so much for the homework.  I have to send them outside while I sing or else, I don’t get anything done!   I’ve heard of all kinds of excuses for not doing homework…. But I think this is a great one.  I’ve been able to make a video of it to show our teacher – it is hilarious!

So, I am no Céline Dion by any means (yet – anyhow) however am quite pleased at myself for persevering in accomplishing my dreams…. And cross something else off my Bucket List.

Well , as they would say in Russia, da svidaniya ,   and of course, Salut !

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J

Smelly things (no, no, not Smelly Cat!)

I have to admit, I am kind of blessed in that way.   I had a concussion a few years back and it robbed me of my sense of smell.   So when my dogs are wet and stinky, I remember how it smells but it does not bother me.  HOWEVER, I am aware that other “smelling” people might come to my house and it will be important to them that my house not be foul smelling.   First impressions are EVERYTHING.

How do I deal with that?   Well, I Fabreeze everything to death.  I keep the “wet” dogs in the basement until they are dry. The cat litter box?  it gets cleaned daily - i'm not taking a chance!   Of course, I wear deodorant and NEVER wear perfume, just in case it’s too much and I can’t tell it is. I air out the house every chance i get and have enlisted good friends to come and "sniff" us out often and make sure we're doing ok.  

I do promise  I would never resort to singing “Smelly Cats” as our Friend Phoebe does, however, I will always ask for forgiveness if the fragrance here is not what you expected.

It was awful when I found out of the loss of this sense – well, almost 100% awful, not quite.   I found out I could not smell in the spring, when farmers are spreading manure on their fields.  No, I can’t smell the bad stuff.  But I remember the smell of fresh cut grass… and long for it… Clothes washed in Ivory Snow – tiny baby smell that makes you want to melt…

Good things?  I can now eat seafood because I could not stand the smell of it before;   I can now volunteer at a homeless shelter because the aroma won't get to me… that does not sound like a curse to me.

Arrivederci my friends and Salut!

Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J

♪♪♪ Rain, Rain, Go Away! ♪♪♪

July 15, 2011

T.G.I.F.    Well, it’s raining again ~ what else is new?   I’m usually the half-full glass kind of girl however, it has now rained so much that my cup has runneth over and I’m floating away, praying for Noah to come rescue me in his Ark.

I was out with the dogs this morning and decided I would run with them instead of walk so I wouldn’t be out there as long.  My mom would have urged me to : “Run between the raindrops” and believe me, I tried.  Not sure it worked…

 I do have a question for you:  If I run for 15 minutes in the rain, the same distance I would walk for 30 minutes, will I be less wet or the same or what?  I have a theory that since I am going twice as fast, I will be able to miss some of the raindrops on the way.  What do you think?

Anyway, I can’t throw the dogs in the dryer so I better get the old towels out and mop up those poor puppies.  Half  or fully wet, they still stink like wet dogs!   

The cat was wise and stayed inside, curled up on the bed while we went out… she laughed at us when we came in, soaked.  Who’s the smart one???   Not the one with the diplomas, that’s for sure.

Well then, sayonara for now,   Salut and have a great weekend!

Signing off:

Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J

What's a Little "S"?

July 14, 2011

Let me introduce myself, I am Sylvie , a single mom of five,  three of which are still at home:  the two dogs and the cat.

Nicky, Bella, Missy and I live in a cute little house with a big yard in Small Town, Beautiful British Columbia, Canada. My youngest son lives on the other side of town with his new wife and my oldest one lives far far away   (well 45 minutes' drive anyway)  ... well, I can’t keep everyone within walking distance, can I?  I wish!

I came by the name of Little S through a very dear friend of mine.  See… his other favorite person also had an S name and he did not want to get us confused;  so there I became Little S because Santa was much bigger than me.  Go figure… never thought I would get to compete with the Jolly Fellow on any field.  Never know what life throws at you …

I kept a journal for so many years, it’s a lot of fun to go through and re-live those memories; hopefully with this daily memo, we’ll be able to share some good ones and start our day with some sunshine in our hearts even if the sun is not blinding us outside.

Welcome, peoples!    Cheers!  Salut!

Signing off: 

 Better be a Little “S” than a  Little Less  J