So, I've been swamped. I haven't had time to write in a while and I thought I'd drop in for a quick update.
I've registered for the CN Tower Climb for WWF-Canada. 144 flights of stairs. I'm training like a woman.
I've been doing a whole bunch of working out and have set up some challenges for myself, including several events this summer. For the WWF CN Tower climb, it's a obviously a fundraiser for World Wildlife Foundation, and a great physical challenge. You should sponsor me!
I'm trying to raise $150, which is 2x the minimum fundraising goal. If all of my readers gave up one Starbucks coffee, and sponsored me for $5, I'd blow that goal out of the water.
I've also signed up to do the Becel Ride for Heart in Toronto. It's 50km on the DVP, and it's in early June. I'm going to have a lot of work to do to get ready for this, and I'm still working on coming up with a plan. I'm really excited about it though. I'm considering starting out with a 25km bike ride, called Ride for the Rouge. It's a fundraiser for the Rouge Valley Conservation Centre. I know that they're all fundraisers, and that's a little frustrating, but it's the easiest way to find great events that I've found so far.
I'm going to try to find some events to sign up for towards the end of the summer, and really try to get set up to do the Half Moon in August adventure race in Alberta, and maybe RacetherockstAR in Muskoka in July.
And now that I'm looking at that schedule... this is crazy. I'm so excited.
You're going to have to forgive me for my philosophical musings today. I woke up this morning and did yoga and it always puts me in a reflective state of mind.
I come from a family that I always considered to have a patriarchal structure while I was growing up, I had a great grandfather who everyone looked up to and went to for guidance. We all had and have a great deal of respect for him, and considered him to have set the bar to which we all should rise.
Time passed, and he got very ill with Parkinson’s. Let me be the first to say that Parkinson’s is a dreadful disease, because it claims the body long before it takes the mind. It is a hard thing to watch, especially in a man who we all head in such high esteem. A little over five years ago, he passed away and suddenly Nana and Grumpy became just Nana.
There have been a lot of things that have happened in the family that I'm grateful that he wasn't here to see, but there are also things that I think would have made him proud. I think he would have been pleased to see the women of my family suddenly rise to the occasion and take the reins of the family. I don't think he foresaw it, but I think it would have made him every bit as proud of us as we always were of him.
A great example of this is my mom. I always had a lot of respect for her, even if we didn't see eye to eye when I was growing up. It took us a lot of years to find our common ground, and mostly it involved a whole lot of me realizing just how much alike we are. When I was younger, people would say to me "you certainly are your mother's daughter" and I would be absolutely gobsmacked. I would protest, and say that I wasn't the home making, housekeeping, two kids and a farm kind of girl. Boy oh boy, was I ever wrong.
She and I coming to common ground also involved a fair amount of her acknowledging that I am bound and determined to do just about everything the hard way, and that I need to learn my own lessons, and see the world through my own eyes. It's how I learn. It isn't a choice. Things got a lot better for her and I around the time that she realized that telling me something was hot wasn't going to be nearly as effective as just letting me touch it.
Now that I'm a little older and have more perspective on the situation, I also see how much leadership she takes with our family. She is the first to make sure that my grandparents get everything they need, and provides a level headed sounding board for them on a fairly broad spectrum of issues, as she does for her sisters and children. I also see how much our relationship has impacted how she interacts with other members of our family. As it turns out, I'm not the only one who needs to make their own mistakes. As I watch her in her role with other family members, I see her let them fall every now and again, when she sees that it will be a more effective lesson. I don't know whether she does it consciously, or whether it has become part of her instinct, but it amazes me. Sometimes it takes so much more strength to let someone make mistakes than it does to try to protect them from everything.
I am starting to see more and more how very like her I am. I really am my mother’s daughter, no matter how big of shoes I have to fill. I see the world from a similar perspective. I live a very different life than she does, but the older I get, the more I aspire to have the same kind of respect from the people around me, and to have a similar kind of life. While I don’t want to work the same job, and I hope to get there my own way, I hope that I can be as happy.
It is astounding to me that in the transition from patriarchal to matriarchal; suddenly my mother stepped up to the helm. It was unexpected, at least to me, but I feel truly blessed to have such a fantastic role model and mother. I really believe that Grumpy would have been just as proud as we all are.
That's it. I've officially had it. My fire alarm has been going off at ungodly hours, my building manager is never available, and my rent is the next best thing to astronomical. $1000 a month doesn't sound so bad, but considering the amount that I'm actually home, I could quite easily adapt to something a little less expensive.
I'm attempting to find something new for May 1st or sooner. While I know that I'm starting to work on this a little early, I need some time to get my head around the transition and what steps I need to take in order to have a move that goes off a little bit easier than the ones in the past.
I'm also trying to make some decisions on what I'm looking for, and where because I know more more about the city than I did when I first moved into the GTA.
My requirements are relatively simple:
1 bedroom TTC Access very nearby, preferably within 10 minutes of a subway station Pet friendly <$700 a month
Now, you're all laughing at the <$700 a month, I'm sure. Let me explain my theory on this one. I'm sure that we all realize that for less than $700 I'm going to end up in a basement apartment, and I'm fine with that. I want to live in something a little more affordable for a year, pay off all my debt and put away enough money for a down payment. I want to buy a house, or at the very least be well on my way to it this time next year.
Basically, the new year came around and I realized that I've been living a life of total chaos for the past five plus years, especially financially, and despite my economic klutzyness, I seem to have finally started to come out of the mess. I feel like I'm in a position where I can fix a lot of what has been so very wrong with my finances within about a year if I make a concerted effort, and some relativly minor changes, including moving to a place that I can more easily afford. I don't want to live somewhere where an entire bi-weekly pay deposit is eaten up by paying rent. It's not a comfortable position to be in, and so I'm looking to do something about it.
So, if you know of anything... you know where to find the comment button; right?
I've registered for the CN Tower Climb for WWF-Canada. 144 flights of stairs. I'm training like a woman.
