My Love List

I recently received my February issue of More magazine*. Being the February issue it, of course, featured plenty of stories about love in all of its facets. One of the things that has stayed with me was the letter-from-the-editor, Linda Lewis.

She noted that stopping to remember the things/people we love can be a natural boost when our spirits are low. She and I are both on the same page in feeling that a "gratitude journal" can be a bit too "touchy-feely" (her words, but a good description) and just not something that I could get into. Linda shared her love-list with us and asked her readers to shared theirs with her. I realized that it would make a great blog post so I stopped to think about my loves. Here's my bit of sharing for today:

Apple crisp served warm on a cold day

Big Bang Theory - Bazinga!!

Cats, all cats

Doing crosswords

Eating with friends

Finding forgotten money in pockets (woo hoo!)

Green......well, green anything

Hot showers

Integrity

Jello

Kids - a certain pair who are 10 and 12 years old

Lord of the Rings - books and movies

Mimosas

National Geographic Channel

Ogling hot young guys on Crescent Street

Popping bubble wrap (c'mon, you never get too old for that!)

Quiet Sundays

Reading books, magazines, newspapers...... really anything with words in it.

Singing to my tunes

Tweeting

Unexpected compliments

Vodka

Warm blankets

X's and O's (xoxo)

Yogourt

Zzzzzzzz.....a good snooze

Kat

*I was not paid or otherwise induced by the magazine to write this. I do like this magazine and would recommend checking it out (http://www.more.ca/)

Dating Adventures

I received an email the other day that kind of blew my mind. Okay, not literally or else I wouldn't be sitting here but you get my drift. Anyway, this guy that I met online shortly after I decided to re-enter the dating world a number of years back decided to contact me. I have profiles on a couple of different dating sites and he had spotted one.


His note went like this - "I see that you're still looking. If you're lonely, I'd love to get together."

Now, if I thought that he just wanted to chat maybe I'd consider it but I wasn't born yesterday (make that 41 years ago!) so I know that he's single too and looking for a "hook-up" or two or three. I just can't seem to understand the thinking behind this.

We established within a couple of months or so of meeting that I am not the woman for him and he is not the man for me. He's not a bad guy but has an intense need to control every aspect of his life - including his relationships - and I intensely despise feeling like I'm being bossed around. This is not the basis for any kind of relationship and our parting wasn't particularly friendly. Basically I told him to stop being so damned bossy and stomped out. Yeah, I know, childish but boy did it feel good!

So what does he want, a f**k buddy until one of us meets somebody? What then? "Sorry, I've met somebody so I can't screw you anymore so take care and, please, don't write" Ugh!!!

Of course, I said "no thanks"

There are days when I wish that I could take a microscope and discover the secret to what makes men tick. This, of course, would make me rich beyond my wildest imagination because every woman in the world would pay for that secret and I'd have men throwing themselves at my rich feet. Ah, to dream.......

Kat

Books, one of my loves

Now that I am attempting to get back into blogging, I have been putting a lot of thought into what I want to write about. Being a single (dating), working mother of two should give me plenty of blog fodder but what about those times when life is feeling a bit boring? After all, it's those dry spells that made me fall out of the blogging habit to begin with. Okay, I admit I'm also not exactly talented in the self-discipline area either - I mean, look at my full inbox (no actually, don't do that - scary!)

The answer came to me when I was browsing through various blogs the other day. I found a few that were dedicated to reading - book reviews, author interviews, etc. Talk about a perfect fit!! I am a voracious reader. It's rare that I leave home without reading material and, when I do, I feel totally naked so I try not to do it. NOBODY wants to see me walk down the street naked (sorry for the mental picture) LOL!

My love of reading goes back to when I was sixteen. I borrowed The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub from a friend at the pool and it was like fireworks went off in my brain. I hadn't been a big reader before that but I couldn't put this book down. It was a huge, epic novel that consumed my days until I finished it but I was so totally hooked that it didn't matter.

After that, I started hitting the bookstore and consumed every other book that Stephen King had ever written. From there I branched off to other authers and, with this, a book lover was born - okay re-born. Chapters has me listed as one of their most favourite people or they should considering what I spend there, LOL.

The plan is to write some posts about what I'm reading, have read and want to read. I guess those posts will be part review and part peek at what's occupying my mind at the time - if you dare to look into that scary place, that is.

Kat

What's with these guys?!

I just don't get it. I've been divorced for a while now and I'm quite ready to invite someone new into my life. I started the whole dating process a few years ago so you would think that I'd be happily settled with Prince Charming by now, right? HA!! As if.....

It's as if commitment has become a dirty word. I hear things like "let's keep it casual" or "just looking for someone to hook up with now and then". Huh?! We're not talking about twenty year olds here. I'm forty one and looking for someone at least as mature as I am but I'm having a hard time achieving that goal. Do these men not need love in their lives?

I met one guy who was different last fall. I'm talking about a man who was actually looking for a real relationship. Hallelujah!! We got along really well, enjoyed spending time together and were REALLY compatible in the bedroom (woo hoo!). Sound great doesn't he? Of course he does.......but.....wait for it......the reason he was looking for a relationship is that he was looking for someone to make babies with! I am SO over the babymaking thing. I have two already - 10 and 12 years old - and I do not intend to add a third. Oh well, another one down the drain....

You may be wondering what started this rant. Well, I met someone this week who seemed nice and we were definitely attracted to each other but - get this - he doesn't want an actual relationship with someone who is divorced with kids. It goes against his Catholic-Italian family's values. What?!! Oh, but he wouldn't mind getting together to fool around when my children aren't around. Oh. My. F***ing. God!! Needless to say, I said "goodbye" pretty darned quickly to this schmuck. I wish him luck finding a decent woman our age who has absolutely no marriage or child bearing history.

I haven't given up on the male of our species quite yet. My libido won't let me. I'm sure that there must be one BBW loving guy out there who's looking for a loving relationship who would be honoured to join my little family. He's out there; I just have to wade through a few dozen duds to get to him and you can bet that I'll tell you about the more interesting ones!

Kat

I know that this is shocking but, yes, here I am twice in one week! I even amaze myself sometimes, lol. You see, I'm on vacation, the kids are with their dad this week and I'm feeling pretty darned well rested. This means that I've been spending oodles of time farting around on the internet; Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. - the list goes on. In keeping with my decision to get back on the blog-wagon, I have spent some of that "valuable" internet time giving my blog a new look. I've changed the background to something a little brighter (that brown was SO depressing!) and I've added a list of many of the blogs that I follow. Those that had buttons for me to grab have their button here and those that don't are listed. I hope that you'll check some of them out.

The other reason that I am feeling so chipper (please don't be jealous) is that we are having a glorious day here. It is mild, sunny and I even have windows open (heat is off, of course!). The fresh air streaming into my decidedly stale apartment is like medicine for the soul. Days like this are hard to come by in Montreal in February. Even my cat tiptoed out onto the balcony. Her days of delicately perching on the warm heater are definitely numbered! Yes, that pic above is her doing her balancing act on the heater. As small as she is, she still has to keep one foot down to keep from tumbling off; how can that be comfortable?

Anyway, I've been in a bit of a funk lately but this small whiff of spring has lifted my spirits better than anything else ever could except maybe some nice chocolaty brownies........mmmm, brownies........maybe I'll do a little baking this afternoon ;)

Kat

I'm back......at least I'm trying to be.....

I haven't written a post since last May. I don't really have a good excuse for being away. I've kind of been drifting along, not quite knowing what to write about and, perhaps, feeling a little depressed about my "normal" life. I mean, who would be interested in me? I work, take care of my kids and try to take some "me" time where I can. This is not the stuff of exciting or witty tales. If I can't be amusing, what's the point? As you can see, I haven't been feeling very "up" these days.

I have, however, been (sort of) keeping up with reading several of my favourite blogs. It is one of these that has inspired me to come back to my blog. This is the blog of @SnglMomSurvives on Twitter called Single Mom Survives. She went through a traumatic surgury recently and, when she returned to her blog, she poured her heart out to us. When I read those posts, I didn't laugh once, I wasn't excited by her exploits; instead I was touched. I could feel her emotions and my heart went out to her. I commented on her posts telling her that I adore her and gave her what encouragement I could.

This is when a lightbulb went on in my head. I realized that I don't always have to be witty or have an exciting story to tell in order to connect with people; I just have to be honest. I realized that I enjoyed writing my blog and that it made me feel good; all the benefits of therapy without the bill at the end! So here is my goal; I intend to get back on the horse (so to speak) and start writing again. I won't promise to produce something every week and I can't promise to make you laugh every time. Let's face it, I don't always feel like laughing myself. What I do promise, to myself as well as to my (few) readers, is that I will definitely keep it real. If I can make you laugh, great. If I can make you think, great. If I can do nothing but make a connection or two, that's good too. All I know is that the "little voices" in my head are telling me to try this again.

It's too late to call this a New Year's resolution (which we never stick to anyway) so let's just say that I'll try a little harder, okay?

Kat