I have been remarkably productive for the past few days. By this I mean that I have been as productive as a normally functioning person (and as productive as I remember myself being at other, better, times in my life). I'm really tired, but I feel very good about everything I've managed to do in the past week, all things considered.
Earlier in the week I started doing some research into how to set up my own reiki and massage business in Ontario. This involved trying to figure out if my qualifications are valid here as well as trying to find out about any required licensing, insurance, associations, etc. In the course of my investigations I came across the website of a local woman who has her own reiki practice. I felt I should try to contact her so I sent her an email explaining that I had just moved back to Canada and wondered if she would be willing to shed some light on the requirements, etc of starting a practice here. She replied right away by email, we spoke on the phone and we are to get together tomorrow so she can share her own experiences with me. I am thrilled that she is so open and helpful and I am looking forward to meeting her. She also hosts reiki practice sessions so I will go to one of those as well. It will be awesome to do some reiki and even better to meet other reiki practitioners.
On Wednesday night I went to a "Home and School" meeting. What I knew as the PTA/PTO in the US is called Home & School here. Whatever. I had no idea what to expect but was hoping for something good. I almost missed the meeting and was a bit late getting there but it didn't matter. It was a smaller group than I expected (about 15 people) but was pleased to see a couple of dads representing. As the meeting progressed, I was - once again - surprised at how laid back and friendly Canadians are. Everything went smoothly, the agenda was adhered to and business was attended to but with a good sense of humour and joking around that it was an enjoyable experience. I ended up volunteering for a couple of committees, including doing the monthly newsletter. I have done newsletters for other PTO and community organizations in the past so this is nothing new. It's something that I enjoy and it gives me a small sense of purpose and accomplishment and will also keep me connected to the goings-on of the school and to the other members of the association.
Also on Wed, I spent hours trying to figure out our current finances. It's only *mildly* confusing having bank accounts in 3 countries, not to mention getting paid in one, living in another and having to pay bills in yet another country. All this while the husband is currently living in a fourth country. Once I finally got things sorted out, it took us another couple of hours to determine what money should go where and how it should get there. I would so love to simplify things. I am so envious of people who have all their banks, money, bills, insurances, etc. in one country!!
On Friday, I finally did a whole bunch of little things that I had been putting off forever, like going to the police station to get a criminal record check so I can volunteer at school (standard policy here). The down side was that the police station is on the other side of town. The up side was that the police station was on the other side of town so I got to do some exploring and see more of the city. In doing so, I drove by a Hungarian restaurant I likely never would have seen otherwise. I *love* Hungarian food so one of these days I must go try it out. I also spent the evening cleaning my laundry room. I don't think the (painted cement) floor had ever been washed -- it was *so* dirty! I also cleaned out the digustingly dirty old fridge that was here when we moved in. I'm still not sure I'm going to use it. I like the idea of a second fridge/freezer but this one is so old and likely so energy inefficient, it may not be worth it. At least it's clean now, so I can still decide to use it if I so desire.
Saturday I continued with the cleaning and managed to make the main floor of the house look like a house again. In fact, it was so tidy & clean that I invited some friends over for dinner. We had a great time -- and they didn't even mind going in the very untidy & unclean basement to hang out and play Wii. As an added bonus, my friend's boyfriend managed to fix my toilet! He also played my guitar, which hadn't been touched in far too long. I think I shall have to do that myself again soon.
I had a nice sleep in today but still managed to get quite a bit done this afternoon. I finally got the lawn mower going (after figuring out it needed an oil top-up) so cut the grass and raked up 5 bags of leaves from my front yard. There weren't that many leaves in the back (yet) so I just mowed over the ones that were there. I've never lived in a house that had big, deciduous trees in the yard. My last house had giant honey locusts but they have teeny tiny leaves that don't need to be raked. Here we have two maples and the neighbours have another tree that sheds into our yard as well, making for many, many leaves that need to be raked up. Luckily, our yard is quite small but it was more than enough work this afternoon to have me completely tuckered out this evening.
However, as I said, it feels good to be so productive. I'm hoping I can keep this going -- I would so love for this to become my normal. I find it's helpful to make plans/lists the day before and even more helpful to not put too much on them. Even if it's just one thing, it's better than doing nothing (and the guilt and self-loathing that goes along with it). I'm going to take it one day at a time and really try to make this change a permanent one.
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