A BIG Brown Box

This morning I was up and wide awake at the usual early hour of just before 4 am !  This time I opted to go lay in bed until at least 5:30 am.  Rob had to get up and be out the door with his "Crabby Cabbie" hat on by 6:00 am or so anyway.  At least we had time to guzzle have a coffee together first.

I have been, for the past 1-1/2  years at least, or maybe a bit less, trying to be more compassionate, loving, considerate and positive.  I like to think of myself as also being an "honest" person, however from time to time there has been known to be the odd "fiblet" getting in the way the of that.

This morning I had to have a "heart to heart" with myself after stressing myself right out to the point of almost feeling ill.  I realize there are times I might be honest to the best of my ability with others, as far as not being deceitful goes, but I haven't been "honest" with myself.

Why was I stressing?  because I do not have time, either because of being not well (2 weeks this last time around), living my life at home or out and about, doing the few things I choose to do because I like doing them, such as cooking, baking, blogging, or social networking, to practice on being an instructor for volunteering for the Wednesday morning VON SMART exercise program.

I thought to myself this morning, why would I put myself through so much stress over something?  why would I enjoy something I am stressing so much about?  I thought it all over and decided this can not be and I was going to resign this morning from my Volunteer position.  I was to lead the Strength and Flexibility parts of the exercise this day.

I arrived early, as us girls always do to set up before the participants arrive, and blurted out how I felt to my two Co-Volunteers how I was feeling and that I thought because of this I would just resign.  Ha !  well when you volunteer with "wonderful & loving" persons like I do, this is easier said then done !  Needless to say, I was consoled, cared about, and encouraged to stay on.

Exercise began, I lead the 18 or so participants thorough the Flexibility exercises without a "hitch", when it had became my turn to do so.

Why do I stress myself over something I think I can not do, then go do it without a problem?  Oh man ... stage fright, out and out lack of confidence ???   I don't know, but it sure didn't effect me much one I got up there and started doing .... I really believe there are days we are our "own worse enemy", do you also think this?

I LOVE the gals I volunteer with, I LOVE the group of people who participate, I LOVE getting out of the house to do something for someone else .... so why would I quit all things I LOVE ?  I have rethought this and I am going to carry on to the best of my ability, and that is ALL that can be expected of anyone.  I do not ever want to be considered myself a "quitter" in any light of the word ... onward I go !

"Below states something I do believe I do on a regular basis in my Life.  I will just persevere more within my being.  I am going to try to LOVE those areas that cause me FEAR and continue on with the things I LOVE."

After exercise had ended, I joined some of the participants and one of the other volunteers over at Tim Hortons for a coffee.  I had such a wonderful time visiting with everyone there, how could I possibly give that up?  I am not ....

On my way home after coffee I decided I was going to buy myself something; I have had it on my mind since I had first seen them on sale at the Rankin Trading Post V & S Store downtown.  Since I had gone in there yesterday and seen the stock was almost more then half sold in just a week's time, that encouraged me to make up my mind even faster.

"Yep, I got me a 12" Paderno Ceramic coated pan.  I can't wait to try it out !  Really how sad is it when I get excited over the prospect of trying a new pan out?  Ha !   I am sure I will have an update all about the experience of using it when I do."

When I did arrive in our driveway with my arms full between my package, a couple of empty boxes I had gotten from downtown and the mail flyers, I almost hadn't noticed what was sitting beside our side entrance way !  "A BIG Brown Box ...."

"Really now, anyone else would trip over something this size, and I almost sashayed myself right past it."

Do you think I was excited? as it didn't take me long to realize it was my package from winning the Knorr Contest last week over at Mardi's blog at eat.live.trave.write.com !!!

Once I lugged brought it into the house, I left it sit for about two hours while I first attended to our "Checkerboard Aussies", made a couple of phone calls, cleaned the ashes from the wood stove, got the wood stove "fired" up, attended to a bit of paperwork and then made myself a cuppa tea.  I did not want anything to interrupt the shear joy I was going to be having myself whilst opening A BIG Brown Box !

"I then very carefully cut open the tape to open up the box to find this note inside the "huge" basket."

"After calmly and being careful further , I continued with some more opening measures to find ALL OF THIS !  Then I was really way BEYOND EXCITED !!!!"

"Could this apron and this Wine Bottle opener be the exact ones they actually use in the Knorr Canada "test" kitchen?  Oh how titillating is that thought??ha?? to me pretty dang, dang, triple dang so."

I stopped after I had everything spread and arranged on the kitchen counter to think what I would say via email in way of a thank you to Christine Lu, the gal who had been in contact with me about this contest, after Mardi had let me know I had won.

Ha ! why email when I could make it personal (as there is never enough of that as far as I am concerned now a days going on).  I picked up the phone and put a call in to Christine myself.

When I reached Christine I told her how much I appreciated all the "thought" that had been put into the Knorr Gift basket and how much I appreciated this.  Christine also told me all product(s) in the basket would give me what I needed to make the three Knorr Recipes they had also included, Shepherd's Pie, Chicken with White Wine & Cream Sauce, and Perfect Steak Rub.  Anything needed for these recipes not included in the BIG Brown Box, in the way of perishables, could be purchased with the 2 - $100.00 President Choice Gift Certificates that had also been part and parcel of the BIG Brown Box.

You can be certain as your last Dollar, I will be trying out these three recipes !

A very big thank you to Knorr Canada, Christine and her "Team" over at Edelman, and Special Thanks to Mardi at eat.live.travel.write.com .

For those who might not know how I just happened to win all these wonderful Knorr Goodies, please drop on in HERE to find out.

After all that excitement the rest of my day was quite mundane, or so I thought.

Wow ... where has time slipped away from me to? it is after 8:00 pm here already.  No wonder a couple of  those  "Checkerboard Aussies" of mine are trying to seek out my undivided attention.  I am off and running, once again, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".