Tag Archives: Personal Life

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Typical Day in My Life

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A white person wearing a light orange, long-sleeved shirt is typing on a laptop while sitting on a couch. This is what a typical day in my life looks like not counting the usual stuff like making breakfast or checking the mail:

15-20 minutes of studying Spanish in the morning either on Duolingo or by consuming Spanish media (music, tv shows, films, etc).

A 30 minute morning workout. It will most often be kickboxing, weightlifting, or a maybe a walk if I’m not feeling great. Occasionally, yoga or dancing might replace one of these activities. Evening workouts can interfere with my sleep schedule, so mornings it is.

Writing. I try to get in a few hours of writing a day on average. Due to my migraines, this means that some days are more like seven or eight hours of writing while others include very little of it.

Volunteering. This, too, varies by day. It’s done virtually and could be as short as five minutes or as long as a few hours. So much relies on how long a to-do list is and how much time I have to check things off from it!

Chores. This is maybe 30 minutes to three hours a day, depending on whether or not the laundry basket is full and how many loads of laundry I might need to do. Chores always include washing multiple rounds of dishes since we don’t own a dishwasher and have a tiny drying rack. It might also include going grocery shopping, mailing a birthday card to a relative, picking up a prescription or other necessary goods at the pharmacy, calling the doctor or dentist, cleaning the bathroom, dusting, sweeping, etc. You know, the typical stuff adults do to keep things running smoothly that kids don’t think about when they wish they, too, were grownups.

A short lunchtime walk, if possible. It’s good to stretch my legs after a morning of (mostly) sitting.

A focused afternoon. Anything I didn’t finish in the morning is something I try to return to and wrap up ibefore dinner.

15-20 minutes of studying Spanish in the evening. It’s a nice way to wind down, and I’m getting a much stronger grasp of that language with all of the time I’ve invested into it.

Batch cooking. About twice a week I’ll make something that keeps well like spaghetti, tacos, shepherd’s pie, or a stir-fry that I can eat for lunch or for dinner over the next 2-3 days.

Maybe an evening walk? Sometimes this happens, and sometimes it doesn’t depending on the weather and how I’m feeling.

 

Migraines are the main thing that interrupts this schedule. Screen time is a known trigger for many people’s migraines, and my medical professionals have told me to really keep an eye on it and limit screen time when I can for that reason.  It’s hard for me to focus when I’m having one anyways, so those days are meant for lying still in a room that is as dark and quiet as possible.

So if my body is anywhere in the migraine cycle, I put off everything I possibly can for a couple of days and get as much rest as I can. I’m quite fortunate to have the ability to do this, and it’s one reason why I push myself to get so much done on the good days.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Something I Could Give a Speech About With No Notice

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Drawing of a person holding their head in pain. You can see their brain and a red stream of light filling their brain and oozing down their spinal column. This light is meant to represent the pain and other symptoms associated with migraines. I’ve talked about living with a food allergy previously on my blog, so the topic I’m picking for this week’s prompt is migraines.

Migraines are a painful neurological disease that can do everything from make you temporarily go blind to mimic some of the signs of a stroke if you have symptoms like trouble speaking or numbness or weakness on one side of the body.

(Not everyone has the most severe forms of this disease or these symptoms, of course, but anyone who has migraines or knows someone who does should be aware of all of the possibilities).

I’d talk about all sorts of things in my speech:

  • When to go to the emergency room for an attack
  • How to tell the difference between a migraine (which isn’t generally dangerous unless you’re throwing up too much and get very dehydrated) and a medical emergency like a stroke or brain tumour
  • Home treatments to help avoid an ER or Urgent Care Centre visit when possible
  • Vitamin and mineral supplements that may reduce how common and how severe your migraines are
  • Which supplements don’t currently have scientific data supporting their use for this diagnosis
  • The neurological link between migraines, strokes, epilepsy, and seizures and why more people should be aware of it
  • How to help someone you love who is having a migraine
  • How to help an acquaintance or stranger who is experiencing a migraine in a public place
  • Food and drinks that are triggers for some people
  • Food and drinks that may reduce symptoms
  • How to respond to well-meaning people who think migraines are a fancy term for tension headaches
  • How to have patience with less amenable people who don’t understand invisible illnesses and think you’re being dramatic
  • Other triggers, both common and uncommon
  • Why getting enough sleep and eating meals on a regular schedule is vital for us
  • Your chances of passing this disease onto your kids if one or both parents have migraines
  • How to complete necessary life tasks when you feel another attack coming on
  • Why resting during the postdrome phase (right after the migraine ends)  is so important
  • The latest research on what causes this disease and possible new treatments for it

And so much more.

(I feel like someone else in the WWBC community has migraines, too? Was that you, George? If so, I’d invite you on stage to talk, too).

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Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Keep Me From Reading

The text reads, “Top Ten Tuesday. www.thatartsyreadergirl.com.”
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Thank you to Cristyn @ Draconic Breath for coming up with this topic in 2024. You gave me the inspiration I needed to write this week’s freebie post!

A pair of black-rimmed glasses lying on an opened book. 1. Migraines

There are at least a few other TTT bloggers who already know what this illness is like. For everyone else, Reading is difficult when I’m in the migraine cycle due to symptoms like brain fog, nausea, and pain. Staring at a screen can also trigger migraines or make them worse, so I do try to limit screen time on those days.

2. Doomscrolling 

It’s so tempting but such a time waster as well!

3. Repetitive Storylines

I love speculative fiction, but I also find myself growing bored with some of the common plot lines in this genre because of how often they seem to be repeated. This is one of the reasons why you’ll find other genres mentioned in my Top Ten Tuesday posts. Switching things up keeps me interested in reading.

4. Medical Appointments

There have been a lot of them in my household this past year or so, and they can certainly cut into the time one has for more pleasurable things like reading.

5. Nice Weather 

I know I’ve mentioned this a few times before on my blog, but when Ontario has nice weather, often in the spring and autumn, I feel compelled to go outside and enjoy it instead of read. There will be plenty of other days in the year when it’s too hot, cold, icy, stormy, or humid to enjoy a walk in the park or a visit to the beach.

6. Overwhelming Choices

There are so many amazing books out there that I don’t always know which one to read next! This is not a problem I ever had growing up as ebooks didn’t exist back then and my parents weren’t always able to take us to the library. I feel fortunate to have it now even if decision fatigue does sometimes make it hard to decide what to read next.

7. Social Media in General  

I have been trying to be more mindful of my use of it in 2026, but it can be quite easy to spend an hour watching short videos or reading stranger’s comments online instead of picking up one of the books I’ve been meaning to read.

8. Writing

Striking a balance between writing and reading isn’t always easy.

9. Meeting Other Goals

Whether it’s related to work, exercise, or spending time with other people, I do have limits on how much energy I have for reading!

10. Chores 

The dishes won’t wash themselves, after all.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Few Happy Memories From My Life

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Here are a few of my happy memories.

Age 4. My mother was heavily pregnant with her third child. Me and my toddler-aged brother sat on the couch next to her, gently touched her belly, and talked to the baby that would soon be joining us.

Age 8. Our family lived in a trailer home next to a highway that was built on a big hill behind our home. We were very low income, and I know my parents worried about how that would affect their kids. The biggest thing on my mind then was how often I’d get to go sledding down that hill. We had some lightweight plastic sleds that glided down that hill perfectly. It was my favourite thing in the entire world other than reading, and I did not care that my parents couldn’t afford to buy us fancy new toys or name-brand clothes.

Wooden library shelves filled with books. Age 18. Exams were wrapping up, and winter break was just about to begin. I sat in my college library and thumbed through the magazines they had there, paying special attention to the ones about science, literature, or history. It was neither a big library nor a fancy one, but I loved how quiet and peaceful it always was. I spent a lot of time there between classes even if I didn’t have any papers to write or upcoming tests to study for.

Adult. Recently married and living in Canada now. We couldn’t afford to travel on our honeymoon, so we explored a lot of free or low-cost stuff to do here in Toronto instead. I was amazed at how large, clean, and beautiful High Park was. Out of all of the parks in the world, it’s still my favourite one.

Adult. My first book was published, a collection of short stories. (There’s a link to it at the top of this site). I really should try to get more of my work published sometime. Writer’s block is terrible.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Unusual Hobbies/Interests

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Closeup shot of four stacks of various amounts of pennies on a wooden floor. I’ve been looking forward to this topic for months! Let’s see if our ideas of unusual hobbies and interests match up.

I’ve already told you all about my pet earthworms that horrified my mother, so let’s dig up some other interesting memories.

When I was a kid, I sometimes played with coins.

I liked stacking them up on each other as tall as I could, or making groups of them in various sizes and pretending they were little families, or of playing a miniature version of curling with them where one penny would be pushed quickly on our laminate or wood floor to see how many stacks I could topple.

It provided hours of free entertainment.

 

The Black Death was another interest of mine for years. We must have had a lesson about it in school that talked about how high the death rates were, but I had trouble wrapping my mind around how many people died during those waves of disease and read many books about the subject as a kid and teen.

 

I had another phase after my grandmother’s death where I asked my mother countless questions about what heaven would be like since the Bible wasn’t vivid enough on the topic for my tastes. When she didn’t know, she eventually bought me a book from the Christian bookstore on the topic which I quietly refused to read because I didn’t know or trust the author. Was I expecting God to come down and answer my questions personally? 😂 I don’t know, and I did appreciate the effort, but I didn’t want conjecture. I wanted proof.

 

Slipping out of church to explore was another hobby of mine because preacher’s kids spend a lot of time in such places. If it’s not our home church, it will probably be a church pastored by someone we know.  There was one church we occasionally visited that was massive and had dozens of rooms to explore.A few rooms were filled with books, religious of course.  One time I wandered up to what I think was the attic and found a door with a piece of paper on it that said something like “Protected by Angels.” I did not open that door and still have no idea what was on the other side.

 

So those are or were some of my unusual hobbies. How about all of you?

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What Were You Like as a Child?

A laptop sitting on a wooden table. The text reads: “Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.”

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

When I was a child, I was:

Quiet and shy. I still am!

Well-behaved. My friend Mei-Ling’s mother once asked her why she couldn’t be more like me. This embarrassed me as I didn’t think people should be compared like that.

Studious. I made the honour roll every semester, although I did get C grades in Spanish, Math, or Science sometimes. History the arts, and English were easier subjects for me.

Bookish. I read constantly and insatiably on every subject matter I could find.

Anxious. When I was about 8, I took a break from reading only to realize I couldn’t find my parents or siblings anywhere. We lived in a cozy trailer home at the time, and so I should have been able to find someone within a minute or two. Given that I was a preacher’s kid, my first assumption was that everyone else had been raptured but that I wasn’t devout enough to be chosen, too. I panicked and ran crying to a neighbour for help, but I was crying too hard for her to understand me. Eventually, my mother returned from running an errand, possibly paying the rent, and I realized that God hadn’t actually come back yet after all.

A drawing of a broken cloud that has been repaired with a needle and thread. You can still see the stitches in the cloud and the threaded needle beneath it. Imaginative. I was always imagining something in my mind no matter what else I was doing. Sometimes I talked to myself quietly about the beautiful stories that were going on in my mind.

Inclusive. Classmates who were left out of other groups could always hang out with me. Sometimes I was bullied for spending time with the kids that others thought were too weird or awkward to associate with. I say this not to toot my own horn or anything, just to give you a picture of what i was like on the playground.

Messy. My tidy parents somehow created a child who was not. I never left food or anything like that in my bedroom, but there were books everywhere and it could get dusty as well.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books About Seasonal Affective Disorder


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A person’s hand holding up a very bright lightbulb that does not appear to be attached to any power source! Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that happens during the same season of the year every year. The winter blues are a milder condition similar to this one that has some of the same symptoms and many of the same treatment options, although some people also use that term colloquially to refer to SAD.

As someone who has SAD and struggles with winter because of it, I thought I’d use this week’s freebie post to share some books about it. Both fiction and nonfiction titles are included. I haven’t read most of them yet, but I’d like to!

1. The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith

2. Super Chill: A Year of Living Anxiously by Adam Ellis

3. Light Boxes by Shane Jones

4. Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch

5. Winter Blues: Everything You Need to Know to Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder by Norman E. Rosenthal

6. Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder): A Guide to Health and Happiness Through All Seasons by Norman E. Rosenthal

 

If you have a medical condition or conditions, which books about it or them are you aware of? Would you recommend reading those books to people who want to learn more?

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: How I Handle Bad Days

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

These past several years have included some pretty tough times for my family, including death and multiple other relatives who have had health problems ranging from minor day surgeries to very serious diagnoses that needed emergency or urgent surgery and rehabilitation, radiation therapy, or other treatments afterwards.

Needless to say, my coping mechanism toolbox is well-stocked and has been heavily used since 2020.

This is what I’ve done to take care of myself when I was part of the support system for others:

Ignoring the news

I do what I can to help, but sometimes I simply haven’t had a single speck of leftover energy for paying attention to the terrible things that happen in our world. This isn’t something I’m proud of, it’s just the reality of life sometimes. You have to take care of your own basic needs before taking care of others.

 

A white woman walking her black dog in a forest. They look content and relaxed.

Not me. I just love this stock photo.

Exercising

Specifically, I have found weightlifting, kickboxing, dancing, and long, brisk walks to be distracting and helpful. It’s harder to keep worrying and ruminating when you’re doing a burpee, or trying to get an entire workout done with excellent form,  or just saw the cutest dog ever walk by you on the trail. (Although I say that about multiple dogs per walk because they’re all delightful).

 

Ice Cream Sundaes

Yes, I mean the vegan or dairy-free kind. I’m so lucky to have lots of flavours to choose from these days as that wasn’t the case when I was a kid. Sometimes a sweet treat really hits the spot when you’re anxiously waiting for a text or call to see how the patient is doing. (I do not recommend sneaking a sundae into the hospital waiting room, though. Ha!)

 

Naps

The world can feel like a much more hopeful place if you can close your eyes for twenty minutes and get some rest.

 

Funny Shows 

My spouse loves to watch dramatic, tense shows as a distraction. I need funny, silly things to watch instead where the worst thing that can possibly happen is that the family dog gets a second dinner one night due to a miscommunication.

 

Haircuts 

There’s something refreshing about brief but important moments of self care like this. I like the sensation of having my head gently rubbed and my hair brushed in preparation for the haircut. It’s soothing.

 

Visiting the Library 

It’s nice to be surrounded by people who are (hopefully) having good days when I’m having a bad one because it reminds me that this, too, shall pass. Also, books are a fantastic distraction from the painful stuff in life.

 

Body Scan Meditation

This is the best type of meditation if you ask me! There’s something so satisfying about focusing on relaxing one part of your body at a time.

 

I look forward to reading everyone else’s responses. There’s still room in my toolbox for other self-care options, although I hope I won’t have to use them anytime soon now that things seem to have calmed down for everyone.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What Is My Superpower?

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

I believe that the last time we had this topic I talked about my uncanny ability to look away from the screen just as something exciting happens in a show. It’s not something I ever do on purpose, I simply get a little bored sometimes depending on which show my spouse picked.

Let’s pick another answer this time.

A white woman wearing a grey sweatshirt is listening to a conch shell at the beach on an overcast and what appears to be somewhat chilly day. Listening is another superpower of mine. I’m good at making people feel heard – so far as I’ve been told – and helping them to figure out what to do without actually ever giving advice.

Here’s the thing: most people don’t need advice in most cases in my experience, especially if they’re not directly asking for you to tell them what to do.

There are often factors outsiders aren’t aware of, or they’ve already tried X, Y, and Z without success and truly do not need yet another well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful person suggesting those options for the tenth time this week.

What they need is a sympathetic ear and someone to validate how difficult and frustrating life can be at times. If they feel heard, seen, and maybe even loved depending on how close I am to them, it can become much easier to try something new, pick themselves up and try again after disappointment, work on one of their flaws, or tackle whatever else it is they’re struggling with that can rarely if ever be fixed by an outsider.

It’s sort of like dancing in that I try to match their energy and glide into the rhythm of the conversation without pushing it into any particular direction.

They’re smart. They’ll figure it out on their own. 🙂

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Do You Follow Celebrity Gossip? Why or Why Not?

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

A pineapple sitting in front of a bright yellow wall. It has a pair of sunglasses hanging on the fruit as if the pineapple has eyes. The green leaves of the pineapple are still attached to it and look like a spiky hairdo. Eh, occasionally?

I have to admit to paying more attention to it for a while when the Covid-19 pandemic first began because I needed a distraction from the traumatic ways it was affecting humanity in general as well as the lives of so many people I know (or knew) and love. Those were years I hope to never see repeated in any way.

There was one star who shall remain nameless here who kept having children with different women he wasn’t married or otherwise committed to (so far as I could tell, of course). As in, he was fathering multiple children per year for a while there. It was something I found so unusual that I did let my morbid curiosity get the best of me as yet another birth announcement was released every few months or so.

This was not a hobby I’m proud of, and I have gone back to avoiding celebrity news as much as humanly possible now.

Some of it always seems to leak through, though, even if I do something as simple as look up what new projects my favourite entertainers have coming out.

Those generally positive tidbits of information are something I may save for small talk when nothing else is working and I’m trying to guide the conversation away from topics I don’t want to discuss with a particular person or anyone at all. Most people like babies, weddings, and/or pets, for example, so talking about a celebrity who recently had a kid, got married, or adopted a pet from an animal shelter is something the average person will find neutral if not endearing.

(I generally ignore negative stories unless there’s a rare pressing need to do otherwise. Celebrities are fellow human beings, so I try to give them as much privacy as possible unless they’re, say, harming others with their bad choices or something. Everything else is none of my concern…but I still want to know when their next film, tv series, book, or album is coming out. Ha!)

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