In-box, Belief, lots of Birds, and a Big Big Boat

In-box, Belief, lots of Birds, and a Big Big Boat, a week in the life of the Carr’s in the form of a Blog, apparently brought to you by the letter “B”!


Belief
This week while watching the Olympics, I have been thinking a lot about the whole concept of believing in one self. Some of these incredible athletes, having trained for 5 or 6 hours per day, for the last 5 or 6 years and lay it all on the line for a 1 minute performance, and they do so, obviously because of the support of their friends and family, but mostly because of an internal system that allows them to believe in themselves.

I see my job as a teacher as one that is designed to not only teach, but also to help build this self-confidence in my students. In fact, one ex students was always their own biggest hold back, when it came to accomplishing anything. They would get so overwhelmed with self-doubt, that had obviously been built from more than 20 years of what I can only guess was too many people telling them, that they could not do it. “Why can you not just believe in yourself, as much as I belief in you?” I would say to them. I think we are all guilty of letting this creep into our mind at times and it is a bit sad.

This is NOT a new concept at all! Remember The Little Engine That Could from that book when we where kids? “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can?” Why do we so easily forget it? So, whether it is running a 10-minute mile, or finishing the New York Times crossword puzzle or even riding a bike for the first time, we just need to think we can and find a way say “I CAN DO IT!” because the truth is, you CAN.

Box
Since starting to teach, summers have always been for recharging the batteries and getting set for the fall. Much needed of course, when your mind works as hard as mine does throughout the school year (tongue firmly in cheek!). Going in to the warm months, I had a couple of things on my “Jimmy list” and I am happy to say that I am half way there! I wanted to purge my inboxes, organize my contact lists, and arrange and cleanup my computer files, to better allow for backup and ease of finding things. Well this week, my once 1500+ inbox is down to a manageable 50. Think I’ll take the rest of the summer off and sorry if I erased your email without responding to it!

Birds

Just after the rain, so no birds… but they do love it! And so do we!

It would seem that the great dollar store purchase this week, of a bird feeder and some birdseed has resulted in almost standing room only conditions in our backyard, or in bird terms, go sit on that fence and wait. It started with an expansion of the actual planting space a couple of weeks ago, and a re-arrangement of the garden lights and the birdbath. Speaking of the birdbath, I think our feeder is as popular as it is, because of the fabulous bath that also gets a lot of attention these days! Thanks to Nathalie for her vision and to her mom for logistical support and execution!

Boat
We are so fortunate to have friends with a big boat. We have been invited a bunch of times, but for whatever reason, have never been able to take them up on climbing aboard. That is until this past weekend. The weather was awesome, the drinks cold, the food amazing and the water warm, for what we hope will turn into an annual long weekend event! Even Island girl Nathalie threw caution to the wind and tackled her fears of swimming in a lake, even literally jumping in and out of her bikini top a couple of times too! Thanks to L & L for a great afternoon!

Birthday
This coming week our little BGB will enter double digits. I will of course, recap the event in next weeks blog, but I wanted to talk about her birthday list. You see, Julia has taken to writing us both little notes, neatly tucked into envelopes, complete with opening instructions. A few weeks ago, she gave us two, one labeled “party” the other labeled, “list” with a “don’t open until August.” I love her list! Pants, Jewelry, 2 books and 3 scarves and Barbie hair strands (print your own design on hair and pin it into your real hair kind of thing). But without a doubt, my favourite is number 6-Aunt Janey, Uncle Earl, Chandler and Colby.

In closing
The Carr family has a bit of a food rule when it comes to trucks, specifically animal carriers of any kind. So, if we see a truck on the highway, say with a load of chickens, that particular white meat will NOT be on our table that night. Strange, yes, but it has worked for us over the years. On our trip this week to see Oma and Opa for a BBQ no less, we had to pass a big 18-wheeler, with little pink snouts poking out of those little holes! Nathalie and I share a glance, and a laugh and say aloud, “I guess no pork tonight” to the girls, and Julia replies, “Awww piggies!” We both chuckle a bit and then I say, “Hey Julia, how was that bacon this morning?” Without missing a beat she says, “Delicious, I love animals… they taste so good.” Funny, when we had thought for a while, that with Julia’s love of vegetables she would become a vegetarian.

Off to make a sandwich!

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week!
Jim