Ten years ago we had Canuck season tickets and the woman sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and whispered….”You know, you really should smile more”….. I had a lot of stressful weeks in those days.

I don’t think that anyone who writes a blog about living off grid has any business writing a post when staying on grid for a week. But this week is going as well as a week on grid can get. It didn’t start that way…

Yesterday we loaded all of our gifts and food up the hill and into the truck to take to the boat. Our boat wouldn’t start so we loaded everything back up the black ice-covered dock and into the family boat. The dock at BH was not much better… We eventually had the car packed to the brim and the dogs tucked into the corner of the back seat between the wine and the shortbread. We headed to Chase for dog food before meeting the gang at the pub to say goodbye for the week. Normally I don’t wear any makeup and if I do I get it free from the back of a shampoo gift box.. This Christmas I thought I would splurge and while looking for ribbons and bows at the drug store went all out and bought the basics (mascara etc.) …Last stop was the gas station to fill up on the cheap gas before heading to the big city on the 3pm ferry.

E put the nozzle in the gas tank, turned on the pump and the gas flowed through the hole and down on to the ground below the car….Some little #$#%$ cut our gas line to try to steal gas while the car was parked in the marina parking lot. Our truck is on empty, we are meeting our friends in ten minutes and have three hours to catch a ferry for a week of driving back and forth across the lower mainland for six days…

I booked a rental car large enough to carry all of our stuff for six days… (465.00 plus deposit)… We met our friends for lunch and then the R’s met us at the rental agency and promised to take our car to a Ford dealership somewhere to be fixed. We moved the gifts, food and dogs to the rental car and headed to the ferry.

We were up at 5:30 this morning to get everything done that needed to be done today. The mechanic called at 8:15. Repair to our car was going to be around 600.00. He confirmed it was vandalism. We called the RCMP and got a file number. We called the insurance company and got a claim number. Insurance company said the car rental company could bill them direct (yeah!!). They said the mechanic could bill them direct (yeah!!!). We are just on the hook for the deductible…

So although it is a pain and we are out 300.00… It could have been worse and all will be well. I am not going to let it stress me out this Christmas…

Went to the grocery store this afternoon with my sister and waited while she talked to every single person in the store (it seemed)… She is a friendly person and seems to know everyone…. I was walking back and forth (pacing) past the check out counters to see if she was in a line up yet when I caught the eye of a nice looking woman in line. She was mid thirties, attractive, wearing a tam.. You know the type who can wear a tam, with all of her hair pulled back off her face.. I passed her several times as I scanned the store for my sister….. I gave up and took a position at the lotto kiosk where I wouldn’t miss my sister if she was on her way out……

Tam lady came up to me on her way out and said….”I hope you don’t think this is weird but I think you are stunning.. You have such a nice smile, your hair looks lovely and well, your whole look.. you just have this great vibe…. well Merry Christmas..”      and she walked out of the store……..

Now those of you who know me, know I am an overweight middle-aged very ordinary looking woman… and I can tell you, that is the first time in my life that anyone  (including my husband) has ever said such a nice thing to me..

Maybe she had been drinking, but there is something really great about this world when a complete stranger walks up to you and for no reason at all, says something so nice… I am thinking it might be a good New Years resolution to try every day to say something nice to a stranger for no reason at all but to brighten what has perhaps been a stressful week. It is certainly a better plan than telling someone

they look miserable