My Week in Review: Dec 4 - 10

I'm having a tough time - there I said it.

I don't know if it's because of the cold weather, or people around me suffering through various illnesses and heartache or what, but I feel - bitter. I'm not depressed, I'm angry. Life is unfair, vastly unfair. It doesn't seem right that good people suffer and the bad people thrive.

And I want to do all the things to make it all better, but I can't. Some things are out of my control and just being there - holding space with them - doesn't seem enough. So what can I do?

Well, I try to be thankful for the good things in my life. There is always something there, sometimes one just needs to look for it.

This week, I've struggled to find it, but I did. My top five things I'm thankful for:

• Saturday mornings. We all hung out together, all playing on our devices and yet still interacting, laughing and enjoying being in the same space together. We don't always need to be doing the same thing in the same space to enjoy the presence the others bring. 
• A warm house. As the temperatures plunged this week (to average Edmonton temperatures, but without the adjustment to help us acclimatize) to -23C (-9F), I'm grateful for the warm house to thaw out in. We went out Friday night in -33C temps to watch the International Space Station fly over. We were outside for all of six minutes and we were chilled. I reminded my children that there are many people without homes in our city who are sleeping outside in the brutal cold and how lucky we really are. I don't know if it had a lasting effect as we raced back into the house, but I'm trying to raise them with a bit of empathy. I hope I'm successful. Time will tell. 
• For a field trip with my youngest to Edmonton's Waste Management Facility. Such an amazing place and truly a world class facility. With the Waste to Bio-Fuels in the final stages, they are able to divert 90% of the garbage into compost, bio-fuels, recyclables and more, keeping it out of the landfill. 90%!!! That's truly astounding. And to see it all in person, wow. They do offer free two-hour tours, and if you are in the Edmonton Area I highly recommend it. 

Part (a very small part) of the Materials Recovery Facility notice the areas for lids/bottles/cans?

How our leftover un-compostable and un-recyclables become bio-fuels, Truly fascinating.  

• For finally getting a project idea for my special person, and having it work out successfully. I used two different types of materials so an adhesive problem arose that I was unsure of how to overcome. However, I had a bit of luck that the glue worked and my project is ready for the final stages. It's not at all the grand scale of my original design that I ended up trashing, but it will still turn out to be a nice Christmas present. I hope my special person likes it. :) I'd post a pic, but I think my SP follows this blog and I don't want him/her to see it before Christmas Eve. ;) 
• For a local book club. The hostess is having her first book club meeting in January. She selected Duly Noted as the Book of the Month!! At first I was over the moon thrilled. New readers! I packaged up the required books she needed and dropped them off lickety-split. Then the nerves set in. The accolades (if any) will be easy to take, but what if they are angry and they hate it? Like truly hate it? I have a pretty thick skin, but it still causes me to worry. How will I react? Will I be able to laugh off their anger, surrounded by 20 people? Or will I crawl into a corner, waiting for the first opportunity to escape? How will I be able to argue and defend the characters without revealing who I am? The hostess told the group that I will be attending, but won't reveal who I am until after (when I can sign their copies). Since I write under a pen name, no one will know its me. Unless they do a bit of digging. ;)  As much as I'm thankful, I'm more nervous. EEk. 

Thanks for reading. Share with me something you are thankful for.