• Finding Love Ten Years Ago

    28/10/2017 - By 

    Ten years ago yesterday, I was in a work friend’s tiny apartment (let’s call her M.), drinking boxed wine and trying to figure out where to go for Halloween parties that weekend. I didn’t even really want to be out for Halloween, it being my least favourite holiday, but decided that I should so that I could make friends, seeing that I was new in Calgary and couldn’t say no to social things forever. It was a Saturday night, I was dressed as a rag doll, and I had $40 to my name.   M.’s friends were visiting from out of…

  • Feeling Calm All The Time is BullSh*t.

    19/12/2015 - By 

    I see a lot of articles lately on teaching yourself, or your children, to reach a “lasting calm” that “never” fades. Teach your children and tell your friends, folks! You will only have one emotion until the end of time! Fabulous, correct? No. There are so many articles about this that I am starting to get a little affected by them. It’s not right. People who are always trying to achieve a “lasting calm”, even during their most stressful times, are doing themselves a disservice, I think. They come back from yoga or a meditation retreat feeling “blissful” or “enlightened”,…

  • Books About Being Resilient, For Kids

    14/07/2015 - By 

    For kids that have trouble with anxiety, nervousness in crowds, or are quick to react emotionally, there is nothing better than a good book for them to gain perspective. Here are some that I have read to my kids that have struck a chord and opened up discussion. They teach coping skills to help kids bounce back from their problems on their own, so that they will be more resilient in the future.   Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. Both Molly Lou Melon books that Patty Lovell has published are amazing. They are all about being yourself in the face…

  • My Daughter in a Nutshell

    22/02/2015 - By 

    I realize I never updated on the story I started the other day about the Girl on Girl Emotional Warfare.   Everything is fine now and it turns out Izzy was the instigator. The moment I put too much pressure on her at home to keep her writing tidy, she took it out on a girl at school and called her work “scribbles”. *facepalm* Needless to say the girl was hurt and the hurt feelings went back and forth. Izzy apologized to the girl and they are friends again. All of this could have been avoided if I put less…