Well DUH!!!

Sometimes I am amazed by my own stupidity!

 I have just returned from a three hour lunch visit that was so wonderful and something I hadn’t realized I so badly needed!

BUT....I decided to give myself a rare treat of a great big glass of diet cola. In the summer I buy a few of them in hot weather, but they are caffeine free. Without thinking about the cola in the restaurant being filled with caffeine, I proceeded to drink nearly three giant glasses of the stuff. Two hours into the lovely visit I discovered my insides were starting to feel shaky. A half hour later my hands were starting to tremble and my tummy was getting queasy....not seriously upset, just a bit jumpy. Suddenly I realized why I had these annoying symptoms. Duh....for Pete’s same girl, you know better than to drink anything caffeinated in such copious amounts!

Fortunately a bit of shaky queasiness doth not a marvellous visit ruin, however, at dinner tonight I will be ordering my usual glass of water with my meal! Aiiii yiiii...where did my brain disappear to?

Good grief! hahaha

Done!

Vaccuming is completed! Happiness!
Bathroom fixtures cleaned. Yay!
Showered! Super!
Hair washed, dried, styled! Joy!
Makeup and clothes on! Ready, set.....
GOIN’ out for lunch with a friend! Dance of delight!

Sunshine, warmth, light breeze! Perfectamungo!
New boots on for their first foray outside, (patent leather gleaming)! Finally!

Chat with son last night! Whoopee!
Chat with parents last night! Relief!
Chat with Island friends last night! Fun!

Dinner plans tonight with another friend! Glorious!

Another day of little blessings I am very grateful for! Thank you Lord!

In other news: my iPad did a bunch of updating this morning and made some changes I struggled to figure out, resulting in my iPad calling me an iDiot! Sigh.....being called names by a computer really hurts! (teehee)

500 Venetian Blind Slats Later.....Yawn.....

Yup, Venetian blind slats....500 of them....506 actually....I counted.

That is how I spent a great deal of my time today...nursing another sore throat and washing ALL the Venetian blinds in this townhouse.  I can't believe I did them all...guess OCD is good for something, right? haha   Once I start a project I find it nearly impossible to let go of until I complete it.  Wow, am I ever tired tonight and my arms are aching from all that washing and drying of each individual slat.  If it was up to me I would never have those blinds ever again, but in this case they came with the rental unit and wretchedly old and miserable looking as they are, having them has saved me a ton of cash outlay on draperies that won't likely fit the next place we rent.  So, a good job well done!

My husband called this afternoon.  He is really enjoying his meetings in Victoria.  The meetings end at noon tomorrow, but his booking agents were unable to get him a decent return flight until the next morning.  He is calling some relatives there to see if they can see him tomorrow after the conference ends, but if they aren't around or are too busy he has good plans for a relaxing time all to himself.  He so rarely gets time alone, even in our own home.  By the sound of his voice, getting away from the dry prairies and out to the coast is doing his health a world of good, while his sister and I both struggle valiantly on with cold symptoms that seem to want to hang around for a good long time!  I am so pleased for my husband. As soon as he gets home his life heats up at work again and I don't know when he will get his next day off.  Glad he is feeling well enough now to face it.

My voice is non-existent this evening.  I think I had better go and see the doctor tomorrow as I have a suspicion as to what is causing this and need it confirmed.  Drat...if I am right I will not be happy!  😡

Once I got the blinds washed I decided it was time to unkink my arms and do some dusting.  Fortunately I had the energy to do ALL the dusting. So now all I have to do tomorrow is vaccum and wash floors/bathroom fixtures and the place is good for another 10 days.

There are several shows on tv tonight I want to see, so am going to have a very quiet, happy evening...although I suspect I will find myself washing the kitchen and bathroom floors in the commercial breaks....despite my ongoing sinus and throat problems my energy has returned in spades.  Assuming the day tomorrow is as melty and sun filled as today was, (despite a 15 minute wet snow shower at mid day), I plan to walk some old books up to the community library box to get some good exercise.  The cooler weather is returning this coming Sunday so I plan to take full advantage of the nicer, ice-free days.  

Tomorrow evening I am going out for Indian food with a colleague of my husband's.  She and I have been trying every Indian restaurant in the city and are enjoying the variety of dishes presented at each one.  Our choice for tomorrow will be the menu items, rather than the too mildly spiced buffet, at India Palace on Albert Street.  Should be a lot of fun!!

Lots to look forward to in the last 36 hours before my husband gets home.  Wow, it is going to be so great to see him.  I used to be so cavalier about him being gone because he was gone more than he was home.  However, in recent years we have been together in the same place a LOT of the time and I have quite gotten used to it.  If we can come up with some more income during retirement I think we are going to have quite a bit of fun together!   

Better get some emails written before those television programmes come on!

How Many Little Blessings Does One Person Get To Enjoy in One Day???

What a marvellous day thus far!  I slept so well last night, it more than made up for the previous night.  Breakfast tasted particularly good this morning...why, I don't know because I ate my usual oatmeal and prunes and drank my almond milk.  Maybe the bit of bread with its teaspoon of raspberry jam was more delicious than usual for some reason...anyway, I quite enjoyed it all today.

The furious winds we had raging all night died down almost completely by the time I caught the bus to go to my hair appointment.  I had a nice walk to the library from the bus stop downtown and arrived just as it was opening, so I didn't have to stand outside to wait to return my husband's book for him.  I had time to scope out a couple of Christmas gifts for my parents at The Bay before my haircut and found exactly what I was looking for: a huge box of licorice allsorts for dad and some peanut brittle for mom.  What a positive start to my shopping for them.

My hairstylist was particularly chatty today from the excitement of finding out just this morning her husband has booked them a family Christmas trip to Arizona and Nevada for 2 weeks during the kids' school winter break.  Her excitement was contagious and I came out of the shop not only looking better, but feeling positively cheery!  Her enthusiasm was contagious!

I returned to The Bay to pick up my parents' candies and then had my usual chicken shawarma salad at Zam Zam Wraps...wow, it was super charged with huge pieces of chicken today.  Delicious! 

Inside Stokes I found a lovely loaf pan on sale.  I have been searching for affordable loaf pans that do not have non-stick coating and today was the day.  My new one is red and white ceramic, most attractive and not likely to stick while not having a coating on it that will scratch and risk being ingested.

Ricki's had a great sale on some tops, so I took a wee gander about the store.  Last time I was in there I saw a mauve top I was interested in but didn't need.  Today there it still was on the clearance rack along with a matching white one, so I bought them both.  I love getting two for the price of less than one at the original price. No, I didn't need more clothes, but too bad, so sad.

Decided to see if our pensions were in at the bank yet and there they were, so I took out some money for our son for Christmas and walked to a branch of his bank to deposit it for him. He is heading to Montreal on the train for a few days' visit with a young woman and her family during Christmas/New Year week.  I don't think it is a romance, but the lady in question has been a very good friend to him for quite some time.  Train fare from NYC is extremely reasonable, far moreso than flying him to our freezing cold city for the holidays.  We are "getting off cheap" with his gift this year! hahaha  

By the time I got out of the bank I had just missed my bus connection.  Such a lovely day just begs for a good long walk, so home I came on foot. I stayed on the sunny side of the street where all the ice had melted and only once had to step off an icy sidewalk into the street to keep from slipping.  What an unexpected treat!

I came home to find a nice photo of my husband inside this month's copy of our diocesan newspaper that was in the mailbox.  I think he will be pleased with it. He looks so studious with his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose.  Teehee....  

Walking home in the sun was so nice. I didn't even need to wear my gloves. Tomorrow it is supposed to start snowing and the cool down will begin on the weekend.  I had no idea I would be so blessed as to get a good long walk in ahead of the next snowfall, with no ice to worry about.  So very glad I missed my bus after all!

Once home, I loaded up our empty water jugs and drove to the refill store.  Then I drove up and down 3 different main streets looking for the one car wash I have found in this city that allows me to wash the vehicle myself....for far less than the $13 to $30 required at the automated washes.  I must be really confused as to the location of the car wash we have been to occasionally as I couldn't find it anywhere.  I feel pretty silly, but it isn't anywhere to be found. I know I am not the brightest candle on the cake, but I don't usually get my directions that confused.  Perhaps it no longer exists.  All I wanted to do was get the worst of the present dirt off the car before the snow returns tomorrow, spawning a new layer of dirt.  O well......my husband will remember where the car wash is/was and tease me unmercifully for not being able to find it; and I will let him because usually it is his memory that is unable to recall things.  For once that problem will be mine instead of his.

Time for another nap I think.  Not sure if my still healing sinuses are going to react to being outside for so long today. I wrapped my neck up in a new scarf a friend gave me and it nearly sweltered on the walk back, but at least I didn't get a chill.   Well, if I have a relapse because of this walk today it will have been well worth it and likely would have happened anyway.

A day filled with little blessings for which I am extremely grateful.

When Your Partner Suffers With a Chronic Illness.....

...you become so used to dealing with it every day you don't realize how much effort it takes until you are free from it for awhile.

With my husband's CFS going away with him yesterday, I have several days where I can relax my memory banks.  I don't have to remember where his keys, cell phone, wallet, keys, jacket, hat or various important papers are. I don't have to ask him if he plugged in the car, shut off the lights, locked the doors, set his alarm clock, turned down/up the heat, turned off whatever appliances he has been using, etc. etc. etc.  I don't have to call him every day at 5pm to see if he has any idea what time he will be able to come home for dinner and then have to gauge the best way to cook the meat and vegetables I have prepared so that the meal is ready at the right time. I don't have to leave notes around the house reminding him what time he needs to be places on his days and evenings off, or what questions he needs to ask at work about things that effect us both, or who is waiting for him to respond to personal phone calls and emails among our family members.  I don't have to remember to remind him to read the notes. I don't have to remind him to try to remember what he has read. I don't have to make follow up phone calls or send follow up text messages to be certain he has remembered. I don't have to track his Google calendar to be certain he keeps his scheduled personal appointments away from the office. I don't have to read every Nutritional Value label on every food item I buy because I am buying it for myself.  I don't have to check every morning when we wake up to see if he has a CFS headache and how best to help him overcome it if he does.  I don't have to remind him which days to exercise and which days he is supposed to rest his muscles.

I only have to remember my very own "stuff" and I suspect that is part of the reason I fail to make many plans for myself when he is away.  No plans, nothing serious to remember.....oh, it is glorious.

It never ceases to amaze me that my husband can function at all with this illness, let alone hold down a fulltime, extremely stressful job.  In the past 7 years he has come right to the brink of a CFS episode several times, but has been able to recognize what is happening in time to take measures to control it and walk through it without becoming paralyzed in his work.  I praise the Lord for that....every day!

And tonight I am praising God for this short break for me to recharge the memory banks....in between worrying because he has no one to remember for him on this trip away.  He does handle problems created by the CFS quite well though.  If he gets his schedule screwed up when I am not around, he figures out ways to solve the problem, or at least who is most necessary to apologize to for missing, or being late for, something important. 

I can't believe he has survived this wretched disease for the past 35 years and is still working...STILL WORKING!!  Amazing!  He is even doing a good job!  

Thank you Lord for this little break for me to recharge and for him to be away from my constant reminders.  It is a mentally relaxing week here for me...and hopefully there for him as well.

Bawling Like a Baby

Surreal experience: just flipped on the tv and what should pop up on the screen but Oprah Winfrey singing (yes, singing) the old hymn "I Surrender All" to Harry Connick Jr.

Wha?????

She sang one verse for whatever reason and I had to pinch myself to see if I was really awake or having the strangest dream ever. I was definitely awake.

No idea what the show was about, all I do know is that as she sang with a small band and Mr. Connick backing her up, I started sobbing...and sobbing...abd sobbing. Talk about bizarre!

My husband and I have an extreme amount of stress in our lives and I am sensing the possibility of some changes coming. I have been feeling too tired and feeble to even want to consider yet another one of  "God's little adventures" coming along in our lives.

I don't know if we are correct that some changes may be in the offing, but what I do know is that whether or not anything at all ever changes, I have not been surrendering my life fully to God of late. I am happier with life more lately than I have been in a long time and I so do not want that to change. Why I would be subconsciously assuming a change would signal negative changes rather than positive ones, I have no idea.

I am happy to have flipped on the tv when I did. Crying in repentance and surrendering to the Lord's plans, no matter what they turn out to be, has lifted a big burden from my shoulders. What a crazy answer to prayers!

Happily Exhausted

I am happily exhausted today!  Fortunately I have no plans except to stay home and relax...and apparently chat on the phone.  hahaha A priest friend from Ontario, filled with good news about his life and diocese, has just spent nearly 90 minutes chatting happily away at me and it was a most encouraging sort of conversation!  YAY!  

Yesterday I was not only awake and ready to go to the small group choir practise at the church, I was even ready to attend the service...got there with 2 minutes to spare and very much enjoyed both it and the choir rehearsal afterward.  Raced home to make lunch and help my husband with the last items of packing for his trip, then off we went to the airport.  

His flight was mercifully, unexpectedly, on time to leave!  He arrived in Vancouver and was picked up by our friends, who took him to their church service, then out they all went for a Persian dinner.  I don't know how his typically tersely worded text messages last night could convey such a sense of cheer, but they certainly did!  haha  Today he will spend some time sorting out the best way to get to the airport and on to Victoria he will go later this afternoon...hoping that short flight is also more or less on time!

I drove from the airport back to the church building for the second choir's rehearsal. We had a guest conductor/clinician and he was just great...so helpful and so quick to help us deal with chronic problems in blending and pronunciation.  "Less Texan, more British!"  hahaha  Stewart Wilkinson, thank you for your wonderful help all afternoon.

From there I followed two other choir members over to one of their houses for a Greycup party.  It was a lot of fun!  Another family was there that I had not met previously and they were very friendly and  nice to visit with. I wasn't happy that Calgary didn't win the game of course, BUT at least it was a close and interesting game out there on the snow covered field of play.  I am much more interested in the Kovalev/Shabranskyy fight outcome that I will have to save for watching when my husband returns home.  haha  The party hosts and other guests were all delighted that Toronto won and so that made for a happy group.  I over ate the spicy chili and paid for that all night long with sleeplessness....of course the slice of cheesecake and the jalapeno cheese slices and the salt and vinegar potato chips I indulged in did nothing to mitigate my insomnia. hahahaha  It was the Thanksgiving blowout I never got to have at Thanksgiving and I regret it not at all!  Today it is back to salads and whole wheat seed breads and chicken and fish until our family arrives on Boxing Day in December for a Christmas meal blowout!!  

So today I am taking it very easy, hoping to have a nap at some point..maybe a couple of points!  I dozed off after breakfast dishes and was nicely asleep when the phone rang at 7:45am.  It was the blasted computer scammers!  I was so torqued and so NOT awake I admit I yelled at the person on the other end of the line about waking me up and slammed the phone down in a most embarrassingly unChristian-like manner.  That is now two phone scammers I have treated that way in the past year....sigh....I need to get a grip.  I don't know why I am like that when the phone awakens me....is it truly anger at the scammers on the line or is it that when the phone wakes me at times when no one in their right mind would be calling anyone I assume subconsciously that it is bad news about my parents or other family members and the instant stress that comes with it is released when I discover there is no bad news other than being awakened by a scammer?  

Whew...that last bit of reflection has drained the last of my energy, haha, so it is definitely time for a little nap!  Hopefully I can sleep until lunchtime!  The sinuses are so much better again today, almost free and clear and the coughing has stopped almost completely.  Hallelujah!

A Good Sleep

I can hardly believe I slept all night, other than one little spell of coughing! I have been out of bed for a half hour and have not coughed even once! Good news for me! My husband barely coughed either. We are both feeling so much better. Yippee! In my case I never know how much of my sinus distress is due to allergy. My husband gets over even the worst colds more quickly than I do.

I think I will skip 9am church this morning to spend a few extra hours with my husband before driving him to the airport. Combined congregational choir rehearsal doesn't start until 10:30am. Based on last evening's attempts to sing here at home I think I can give a bit of singing a try.

The temperature is going a bit above zero again today. That is good news. I am going to a Greycup party this evening and should be home before the melt on the streets freezes again.

Should be a good day. Now I pray my husband's flights will be on time today. From my mouth to Air Canada's ear!

Cough, Cough, Cough.....

Cough...cough...cough...cough....cough.....

Breathe...cough...cough...cough......cough...cough....

Talk...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...coughCOUGH!

Cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough....cough...cough...

Breathe...cough...cough...cough...cough....

Talk...cough...cough...cough...cough...cough...COUGHCOUGHCOUGH!   
Argh....... 

The Perfect Day....ALONE! Hallelujah!!

I did it!  I got the heck out of here for a few hours of shopping and other errands and lunch out BY MYSELF, at Angkor restaurant where I enjoyed a delicious Canadian style oriental combo plate.   What a lovely day after being stuck inside for most of the past nine days!  My ironing job was done just after 11am so I got ready and away I went! I could see all the water puddles where glassy ice used to be on the parking lot, so decided it was worth the risk.

My husband has not called me to come and pick him up from work...yet....so he must be coping okay thus far.  No doubt he is run off his feet with having to respond to at least a couple of hundred emails, plus the phone messages, the usual querries from the finance officer, then collecting the resumes that have been coming in for a position that needs filling soon, making sure the volunteer workers are kept busy with useful tasks that they can handle, attending to whatever parish disasters have occurred this week on top of all the "immediate" disasters that weren't compeltely dealt with last week and the week before that and the week before that, checking and resetting the mouse traps, meeting with the immigration officer, tracking down the archives personnel about an old land deal that went awry back in the 1960's in another province all together, and on and on and on...."and all the other things a horse has to do on the farm", as my father in law used to say. I am amazed he was able to get to work at all, but, like me the third day of this crazy cold was definitely the worst for him as far as symptoms.  Now if he can keep from getting a chill and overworking himself he should continue the slow crawl toward healing!  

I am not certain which part of his upcoming trip my husband is the most excited about: the meetings and fellowship with the other Executive ArchDeacons or spending the first evening with the young couple he is staying with.  hahaha  I am just so grateful to God that he is likely going to be well enough to go on the trip after all the preparation he has done for it.  If he can go into the office here again tomorrow he will feel even more ready to go, not as many outstanding tasks after his 3 days away ill.

The sun is shining today.  There is still a bad patch of ice on the passenger side of my parking space, but it can be gotten around.  I think I will go outside in a few minutes with the shovel and see what I can do about getting rid of it.  At least I will put down some ice melt so the top of it can crunch up and give my boots more traction.  There were small patches of black ice in the parking lots of the stores I was in today and my feet slid nearly out from under me a couple of times....whew!  Still standing!  Thank you Lord!!

When I think back to how much pain my back was in just a few years ago with all the macro fractures in my spine I can hardly believe the way I can now haul packs of 24 bottles of water, 500 mls each, in and out of grocery carts, in and out of the back of the car, across the back lawn and up the back steps, then down into the basement to the storage shelves.  It seems like a near miracle to me.  I hauled 3 of them today from London Drugs.  One thing I did take advantage of on this Black Friday sale day, beside the little flashlights at Peavey Mart for 97 cents each, was that London Drugs water special and their Jamieson Vitamins for 40% off.

Driving around the shopping areas today was definitely an exercise in how to take my life into my own hands!  People were just crazy!  They were trying to cram their vehicles into spaces that were too small in their hurry to get inside the stores, they were driving on the wrong side of the lots in order to grab open spaces before anyone else could get into them. They were swerving and deaking and ducking....it was just nuts out there today.  After nearly being rammed three different times along the route I was very happy to get home with both myself and the vehicle still in one uninjured piece!!  

I am kind of relieved my husband returned to work today....as long as it isn't too soon for his health!   I am talked out after our 3 days of intense conversations.  One of the lovely things about my day today is that I haven't had to talk to anyone....my sinuses are still draining and talking still makes me cough and cough and cough!  Don't know how I will be able to get through choir rehearsals on Sunday, but I still have nearly 48 hours before that happens so.......

Thank you Lord for this productive, QUIET and warm, sunny day! O how I have enjoyed myself. And now I think it is time for a wee nap!

An Aborted Attempt To Go Outside

Last night I was most excited to execute my early morning shopping plans today.  The ice has certainly put a stop to that.  I knew as soon as I looked outside at 7am that my decision to head up to Peavey Mart at that time of the morning was not going to come about.  SO much ice around my back step and car and parking lot.  

My husband decided to go into work for a few hours today as he is feeling at least somewhat better than the past few days, so we left the suite together a few minutes ago with the idea that he was going to walk and I would drive to the stores.  I skated along in my boots as far as the car, then we both realized just how much ice is on the ground in the slightly sloping parking lot.  My husband reminded me that even though I could use our own ice melt to create sufficient grip on the ice to scrape off the car of its frosty overnight buildup, the parking lots at both the places I want to shop are likely to be extremely treacherous this early in the morning.  Wisdom, fer shur!

So, 10 minutes later I am back inside, boots and coat and purse at the ready for after lunch when there should be far less ice under foot.  We are only forecast to go to +3C today though, rather than the glorious +8C we had yesterday, so the pavement under the icy spots may not warm sufficiently to clear the ice buildup.  I see pavement frost thick on the main sidewalks outside the front of our building and people walking along it being very slow and careful.  Had we experienced a proper chinook yesterday the sidewalks and lots would be completely free of ice and snow, but these half baked jobbies that we get occasionally in SK create more trouble than all the excitement about warmer air is worth.

After lunch I will put on my new boots with the built in metal spikes on the soles and make a second attempt at getting out.  If that isn't successful then I guess I will have to take my chances again tomorrow and hope that the shoppers on this first day of the week long Black Friday sales will have left me at least a few flashlights at Peavey Mart that I can purchase.

Well.....off to do some serious ironing projects I suppose.  Not at all what the OCD mentality is prepared for. hahaha  I want us to retire somewhere that has no snow and ice in winter!!  👍

Not Quite Chinook Conditions...But Close!!

At the moment it is +8C outside.  The surface melt of the snow is amazing.  The ice that is stuck in the eavestroughing around the roof is melting and dripping all over the windows.  The path I have been shovelling on top of the snow to get to the car has melted to the point where the grass is sticking through.

It would be a beautiful day to be out and about, but alas I have no errands that need to be run away from our suite.  The walking paths are an icy mess over at the park and of course the prairie wind that is blowing in this surprise warm front is kind of miserable to be out in when my sinuses are still recovering from my cold.

I WAS going to be heading out at 7am tomorrow so I could get to both Superstore and Peavey Mart before the crowds begin for the "Black Friday" sale.  (I am sorry, but...BLACK FRIDAY SALES??? Whose dumb idea is that anyway?  Is it something we HAVE to borrow from our neighbours to the south?  Isn't the crush of desperate Christmas shoppers on the upcoming December weekends and Christmas Eve enough to contend with over the next month without having to cram Black Friday sales [or in the case of our city...Black Friday WEEK sales] into the all ready existing shoppers' nightmare?)

Just wonderin'......

With the ice that will form overnight after all the melt today, I am now wondering if it will be safe for me out there wandering about in large retail parking lots at 7am.  Guess I will find out at the time.

My husband stayed home from work again today, third day in a row, BUT at least this morning he got a couple of work calls made and has plans to look at some emails later this afternoon.  His symptoms are tracking exactly the same path as my own so he is hopeful he can go into the office for at least 2 or 3 hours tomorrow and Saturday and still be well enough to catch his Sunday flight to the coast.  I am hopeful as well because I think meeting with other people who have his position in the other dioceses will be good for him. It always has been at their other annual gatherings.   He is also excited to have the opportunity for an evening of church and visiting with a young couple that used to live here in our province. They are such good friends.  Younger people certainly perk my husband up as he has such a heart for them and the struggles of this present day for people in their 20's and 30's.

The sun is pouring in through the window beside me and o my, the heat feels so good as it lays across my shoulders.  I started doing laundry after lunch so am running up and down the stairs to the machines and closets.  Although I am not going anywhere it is turning into a very productive day.  My husband and I spent a good long time this morning enjoying the luxury of unhurried visiting together.   The conversation was rather nasal, punctuated by a lot of nose blowing and coughing, but still, it was great to have the chance to just sit and talk about our future.

Yes, we have colds but today is still a very good day!  👫

Coming Full Circle...Back To the Garden.....

I am starting to suspect that many of the Anglican folk in my own particular, small circle really are not cluing in to how irrelevant their Christianity and faith in general are to the secular world around them, particularly the younger members of society.  We have insulated ourselves rather well from these dear younger folk and are now shaking our heads wondering why they have either retreated from church after growing up there, or have never developed an interest in God and Christ in the first place.

This afternoon I was reading a couple of short articles on Google Scholar and got thinking about some of the strong influences that have effected the thinking of the upcoming generations about the spiritual realm.

For example, if all of creation is ONLY the result of an accident and morality and belief in an "other" is unnecessary or silly or wrong or what have you,but we still can't as human products of that accident, completely get around our innate sense that there has to be a value system for our human society, then it must be up to us to choose what right and wrong should be. When we believe there is no creator or other force to whom we owe our lives and allegiance, then, when we cannot shake the idea that there is still a concept of right and wrong in our universe, surely we must have the right, the obligation, to "choose for ourselves".   

Is this not what we have been hearing on an almost daily basis for the past decade and more?  We get to create our own personal norms, define our own morality, design our own value systems, and these days even choose our own gender affinity and resulting lifestyle. 

Nowadays it is all about the "us", the "me", and not about the "other".  

Choosing for ourselves.....hmmmm....this seems an old theme rather than a new one for some reason....hmmmm...where have I heard about this sort of thing before?  O, wait....I believe it has something to do with a biblical story about a fellow named Adam and his partner Eve. They too made a choice to ignore the "other", to disobey the one command from that "other" that they themselves decided was negative rather than positive, life restricting instead of life affirming.  They chose for themselves....

Yeah, this kind of thinking certainly is very familiar indeed.  For Adam and Eve their decision to choose for themselves didn't work out so well in the end.  How is it working so far for the rest of us??

Thanks (AGAIN) Doug Reichel Wine Marketing For Our Little Celebration!

Today we are grateful for the following wine that we were introduced to by Doug Reichel Wine Marketing:

Goru El Blanco Moscatel Chardonnay (2015)

At 10:30am my very ill husband decided he was tired of laying around, doing bits of office work in between naps and that he wanted to have a celebration, "just because".  So, he opened a bottle of the above delicious but affordable wine and we began frying pork cutlets and sliced apples in soy sauce, lemon juice over a bed of sauteed onion slices.  With a couple of small chunks of olive bread it made for a fabulous VERY early lunch/brunch celebration by the time we finished cooking it. I was in the midst of making spaghetti sauce when my husband came up with his crazy and delicious idea, so since I can't have more than a tiny taste of apple, I made myself a pizza with the sauce and some pork.  We finished off with a second glass of wine and a small cheese board...the Pacific Rock cheese was particularly delicious, although it didn't pair with the Goru as well as we thought it would so I whipped out some white cheddars that did indeed pair well.

As we stood in the kitchen with our very early in the day glass of wine, preparing a simple and delicious brunch time meal, it gave me a glimpse of what retirement COULD be like if we could ever afford at that time to live half as well as we do now.  We got talking about it over our meal and decided the best thing to plan is to wake up each day of retirement and look for the simplest of daily pleasures; to take comfort and joy from those small things. 

Some kind of hope about the future was suddenly and unexpectedly restored.  Thank you Lord! And thank you Doug Reichel!

Another Week "Off" Together

My husband's cold is peaking today and will likely be about the same tomorrow if he continues the same symptom path as myself.  Assuming so, he should have no trouble getting on the plane in another 4 days' time. ✈

He is working from home today so that he doesn't spread this horrible cold to the rest of the office staff. Their gratitude for his thoughtfulness SHOULD make up for their being ticked off that he is out of the office when the Bishop is also away.  That is the hope anyway, hahaha.  They are a good crew, wishing him well and healing when we both know darned well his absence this week is a problem for everybody. Bless their collective hearts.

I am so happy he has so many computer related tasks to do that are transferable to right here at home.  He can nap in between tasks, pop his cold meds, take time out to read a chapter in a book and eat when he feels hungry.  In the end it is mostly all good! 

My sinuses are still kind of snoggly, but at least I can get rid of some of the build up now. My thinking is a lot more clear. Not having a sore nose at this point is my best advertising for spending the extra money I spend on good quality, 3 ply tissues. My energy is returning at last.  Shovelling out the bit of snow that fell overnight has been a nice morning task.  I enjoyed it.  It is much warmer than it was at this time yesterday so I didn't get a chill.

I think today and the rest of this week will be pretty laid back between the illnesses and the weather.  My husband will be carrying most of the stress in terms of work and I will just enjoy caring for him while he goes through the cycle of this cold virus.

There is a joint women's meeting in early December for 3 of our local Anglican churches.  I am excited about this event and I pray other women will be as well.  The level of acceptance and interconnection between the various city parishes is at an all time low and it is hurting our denomination at the local level.  There are quite a few women in the 3 churches and they are all great people.  I am so fortunate to have met most of them because of my husband's position in the denomination...what a blessing for me.  I am going to try very hard to attend and support this group.  There is food, fellowship, table talks and a Eucharist to share together.  Maybe, just maybe, we will get a chance to model some cohesive social structures for our socially lazy men!!  (oops, did I say that???) 

One good side effect of my husband's cold is that he has been at home for enough consecutive hours since Sunday that we have had some chances to talk.  We are re-evaluating our lives, our spiritual and social directions and discovering we are certainly on the same page about many things.  It may take some time for solutions and new directions to present themselves, but we are feeling primed and ready for a few positive changes to occur at some point in the new year.  Most encouraging!

 

My Poor Husband....My Poor Computer....Bad Day For Them Both

Yup, as I suspected, my husband will not be returning to work today apart from a couple of calls to other staff to get them going on their part of some joint projects.  He is so disgusted to be ill...and at a crucial time because of the Bishop currently being out of the country.  What a nuisance for everyone for my husband to be ill this particular week.  Now, Lord, please, if he could just be well enough to get on that plane to Victoria next week. Those meetings are kinda important not only for my husband but for our diocese for future decisions.  Thanks Lord and......Amen!

The old back up battery for my computer finally gave up the ghost today.  We are sure we have been using it for at least 15 years.  Poor old thing.  It is so old in the wild and ever changing world of computer techn0logy we will be surprised if we can even find a replacement battery for that ancient back up system.  It has worked so incredibly well all this time.  So, now I am working without back up and if the power goes out I am hatched.  It is not a good feeling!! haha  The way the power goes on and off here during snow, wind and rain storms, all willy nilly and who knows when and for how often, makes it difficult to relax when using a computer.  My own computer's automatic backup programme has never worked properly either, trying to do it manually is unnecessarily complicated, so recovering information or lost files is almost impossible without that old battery back up to keep things running during an outage until I can save whatever I am working on and shut the computer down.

I am finally able to clear my sinuses of all the guck they have been plugged with for the past 7 days and that is a good, good feeling.  I think if I remain vigilant on keeping warm and out of the wind I will be over this in a few more days.  I must remember to wear my new knit hat and mitts today when I go over to my husband's office to make some photocopies.  Friends gave me the most wonderfully warm coat scarf that I will also wear.  It is as pretty as it is warm so I feel a little less obviously "prairie winter practical" in my appearance when I wear it.

Guess I better go and do that so I can get the copies mailed in to Revenue Canada.

Happy, happy, joy, joy everyone.

Breathing Easier Tonight!

At least I am physically breathing easier, but my poor husband is now taking his turn with this virus.  I am praying very hard that his symptoms track the same path as my own so that he will be up to taking his flight to the west coast next weekend.  In the morning it will be 7 days for me and, unless I have relapsed myself by going grocery shopping in today's cold wind, I should be completely well in another couple of days.

Mentally and emotionally we are both "breathing a lot easier" after receiving an email this evening from our relative who has spent most of the past year fighting cancer.  There was a big post-chemotherapy appointment today with the radiation oncologist and the big news, happy news, joyful news, is that there is no cause for concern.  Everything looks really good and it could be next March before another check has to happen.  If we are this ecstatic we can only imagine how our dear relative is feeling right now.  Thanks again for all the prayers.

Our son just picked up 2 or 3 weeks' worth of temporary studio and gallery work starting next week.  So, he is scraping along okay for now.  He is quite excited that, even though full time work continues to elude him, he is eking out enough to get by a bit at a time.  His dad and I have LOTS of experience at that sort of life style so are not panicking like we probably should be....? hahaha

My mom called me for....the third time, I think........to reiterate her list of callers and card/gift senders for her 90th birthday. She is flying so high from all the unexpected attention.  I am delighted for her. She still has 3 celebrations over the rest of this week...two of them without my dad for  a change so she really feels like she is getting away with something. hahaha  She had a doctor's appointment today and it went well. He has put her on a wait list for approval for the same osteoporosis injections I am taking, but it is going to take a lot longer in AB to get approval for the drug than it took me to get it here...that seems so wierd to me. SK moving faster than AB on something medical...go figure...so I am praying she gets taken care of very soon. Apparently she could be waiting for up to a year and in the meantime cannot take the same drugs I cannot take for similar allergy reasons.  That poor woman has developed such severe osteoporosis so quickly that it is taking a lot of my energy to keep from worrying she is going to break more bones. Her painfully swollen wrist from the one serious fracture we know she sustained a few months ago is just now starting to heal enough for the pain to be lessened. She is wearing a brace contraption a lot of the time to ease the pain and to keep the bones in the proper position.  Stupid osteoporosis!

Have to get up early to drive my husband to work so I can use the photocopier in his office.  A mistake made by the tax department on our LAST year's taxes that we didn't know about until we applied for the Guaranteed Income Supplement back in March has been holding things up and just today we found out what the problem has been and what old tax forms we need to send in so they can correct it.  At least the application has been accepted once they get the forms. That too is good news for us.

 

A Short Break Out!

This morning I forced myself to get dressed and drive across town to a discount grocery store and pick up some badly needed items.  I am rather glad my husband hadn't asked me if I needed these items when he sneaked off after church yesterday to pick up some edible surprises for me because it gave me the oomph to get my still tired, unmotivated self off my duff and get outside for a grocery run of my own.

I was able to leave for the store during the brief period of our daytime high of +2C.  I parked half way across the large parking lot from the store itself so I could at least extend my walk by a little bit after lazing around ill for most of the past week.  While not feeling particularly strong, a little bit light headed and definitely still rather snoggly in the sinuses and lungs, it was incredibly liberating emotionally to be out of the suite and doing something useful!  Unfortunately as I exited the store with my purchases, the temperature had all ready begun its downward trend toward tonight's -20C, the wind had come up in all its freezing blast and flakes of snow were swirling down from the dark clouds above.  I sort of regretted having parked so far away!  Exposure to strong and cold wind gusts is not particularly healing to colds!!

Ah well, still so good to get out.  After I unpacked the groceries at home and made a large mug of my delicious hot chocolate.  I gave my husband some hints as to how to take care of his own cold that has definitely begun to hit him today and have been exchanging emails with our son.  

Thus far I have resisted the urge to peel off the first set of clothing I have worn in 5 days and put my Mark's Comfy Robe back on!  I WILL remain dressed like a human being for the rest of the day, I WILL, I WILL!!!  

(Won't I?) 

Up and down go the temperatures and wind speeds...I suspect by the time this 2 week period of such great ranges in temperatures is over there will be many more people ill.  These kinds of wild weather swings are very hard on the human immune system!

Time to go and prepare lunch....all ready.  For the past 5 days the time has dragged on interminably it seems. Today, just from having a chance to get out and move around, the hours seem to be flying past! 

Miss Dyck Would Be SOOOO Proud!

Our son phoned us tonight to let us know he has signed a new lease and arrangements have been made by the courts to get his money back from the scammer who rooked him and the other building tenants....even if the cheque bounces, at least he has recouped a month's rent by virtue of the rent strike he and the other tenants held at the beginning of this month...now Lord, he still needs a job.....thank You very much for it when it shows up.

He is reading an interesting book.  It is about the development of mathematical formulas, as well as some of the philosophies behind their invention.  He is taking some of what he is learning and applying it to his latest art works.  This from a kid who came up 2% short on his Grade 12 math final examinations and, had he wanted to take an academic route in university, would have spent his summer after highschool repeating his Math 30 course in order to gain entrance!  His teacher at the time, the long suffering and infinitely patient Miss Dyck, did her best to encourage him to reach his full potential in her class, but he admitted even at the time he was too disinterested and lazy to be bothered.  Now he is reading feverishly every book about the development of mathematics he can get his hands on.  This is "good stuff".

The artists in his circle are much less excited about his application of math to his art works over the past couple of years. They are concerned he is going to be painting under restrictions and boundaries that his Masters degree profs told their students they must not allow their creativity to be limited by. That is not though how my son views his new studies and the excitement he experiences when translating formulas to canvas.  

It seems every new generation of artists, no matter what creative field, every set of avant garde new leaders of particular art movements, ends up promoting ideas and styles that eventually become tropes to be rebelled against by the subsequent generation, while being hotly defended by their inventors.  

I suspect my son is running up against this sort of stifling demand on how he "should" express his creativity, but I doubt he will cave in to it.  He is his parents' son in that regard.

What fun discussing art, mathematics, rent fraud, unemployment and Christmas plans all in the same joyful conversation.  His dad and I find ourselves living for these Sunday evening phone calls our son initiates on a regular basis.

Watching My Team Lose....BUT My Other Team Won!

I am forcing myself to sit here in front of the tv, watching the Roughriders losing their chance to play in the Greycup game next weekend, due to poor offensive play and the stacking up of unnecessary penalties that have cost them too many lost yards. Even the couple of penalties called by the refs that should not have been called, were most unfair in fact, are not going to be responsible for costing them this game. They are playing flat. Poop! I was hopeful for them....partly because had they won, the generally depressed mood of this city may have lifted a bit. Now however....

Personally, despite my sinuses and lungs being no better than yesterday, I am having a good day.  Even though my team is losing, it is still football, right? AND the Calgary/Edmonton game for the Western Conference final is next up on tv. My husband pushed himself off to church this morning despite being up half the night due to a mild gall bladder attack, and got a lot of encouragement from the sermon at St. Mary Anglican. Thank you Canon Claude! Then he went to Save-on Foods and brought home a chicken, uber low fat cheese and a bag of pretzel buns as a surprise for me. What a sweetie.

The weather is decent today and should be again tomorrow. Maybe I will force myself to get dressed tomorrow and drive over to the grocery store for a few items and some fresh air.

Ooh, and now the Stampeders won the Western Conference Final. Perhaps I WILL watch the Greycup game next Sunday after all!!

I MIght Just Be Finished Watching The Black List Gag...Retch....

Finally got around to watching this past Wednesday's fall finale episode of The Black List.  Usually I can ignore the "gore", either visually presented or frighteningly implied.  Maybe it is because I have this crazy cold and am feeling kind of miserable anyway, but I was very put off by the level of violence in this episode.  My husband, who so far does NOT have this cold after all and is not feeling the least bit miserable, was just as put off.  This finale episode was too over the top on the "blood 'n' guts"....literally.  Blaaah!  Killing off one of the main characters is neither here nor there as far as my enjoyment of the programme, but I am not prepared to witness any more mind and emotion numbing torture and murder. 

Sorry Black List producers, but enough is enough for us!

Well, Hey, I Can Only Sit Still For So Long, Right???

Okay, I confess: I couldn't resist going out to do my 5 minutes worth of snow shovelling just after lunch.  Despite the cold air, the sun is shining brightly and there is barely a hint of a breeze outside....perfect conditions for me! 😌

Ooh wow, it felt wonderful to be out there even for such a short time.  It actually took me nearly as long to get zipped into my parka and boots as it did to do the work!  Thank you Lord for this beautiful winter's day.
I think I have the energy now to shower and wash my hair, then put all my sheets and nightwear through the laundry.  Yes, it is likely too much, but once I am done I can relax and get back into my Mark's Comfy Robe for the evening and spend all day tomorrow inside again.  (Is it wrong to hope for a bit more snow to fall overnight so I have an excuse to step outside again tomorrow??)👍 Nyaaaa haaaa haaaa........

Hot Chocolate Meds For a Diabetic

Is there any more delicious hot drink when fighting a cold than some kind of conglomeration of chocolate and appropriate additives?  Nope!  Nothing equals it.

I have finally developed  my own concoction of diabetic friendly hot chocolate: a couple of teaspoons of sugar free/carb free chocolate powder, a quarter cup of unsweetened/carb free Almond Silk and a teaspoon and a half of pure vanilla extract, with one packet of Sugar Twin to sweeten the flavour.  This is my second morning of indulging in this little treat.  If it doesn't have quite the richness of flavour or texture as non-diabetic hot chocolate drinks, it is an adequate substitute for me.

I am currently blending a teaspoon of good old Fry's cocoa powder with a teaspoon of dark ground cacao from Calgary's Silk Road spice and herb retail outlet in Inglewood and it is a tasty combo. 

YUM!!!

Another Weekend

Another weekend has arrived.  Has it really been 10 days since my husband began his morning exercise regime?  Unbelievable!  He has been waking up for the past few days, no alarm necessary, at a regular time of 6:30am, doing his exercises immediately and is now starting to see some progress in his ability to do them without pain.  He has started increasing the number of reps now.  Way to go husband. I am awfully proud of you!  I all ready see some other good effects in that my husband is now starting to add other coping mechanisms into his work day.  Waking up at that time of the morning gives him 10 to 15 minutes to do some reading before he goes to work.  Rather than waking up with his mind spinning over work details, he is waking up eager to exercise and shut off any useless concerns about the job, leaving work at work until he walks in the office door. He has started coming home at the proper time in the evenings as well no matter what impossible project has been left unfinished because he has learned that overwork doesn't solve the long term project problems any faster. I am not certain he realizes what a change I am all ready seeing in him since he began deliberately trying to deal more effectively with his life and health.  I can see he has made a true decision to get his life in order and his body more sound.  There is less dread about going to work each morning, no wimping and whining about exercise, no more fear that he will lose interest in doing the routines.  Thank you again dear physiotherapist friend, you have begun a quiet but effective revolution in my husband's life.  I will be forever grateful.

 I had another fairly decent sleep last night and woke up today feeling no worse than yesterday.  My sinuses are a bit more plugged, but the heaviness in my chest is gone for the moment.  The next 2 days will be the crucial ones.  I HAVE to discipline myself to stay indoors even if just a bit of shovelling is calling.  If I have learned nothing else, when I get colds I have to stay inside and drink a few gallons of water, cover my nose and neck in Vicks VapoRub and sleep every time I get the urge.  That is how I beat these crazy start of winter colds.  Last year's vicious strain was not the usual, thank goodness.  Being that ill for nearly 4 months is not something I care to repeat this winter!  This year I got my 'flu' shot on the first day they were available to the public after getting caught last year and becoming so very ill.

I am missing choir sectionals today....boohoo....there is one song that I have screwed up the timing on in one bar and for some reason I didn't get it straightened out at last weekend's rehearsal, so I was looking forward to today's practise.  I will just have to get off my lazy butt and figure it out here at home before I return...hopefully next Sunday afternoon!

Okay, I have been up for over 2 hours so it is time to go back to bed.  I am about half way through Christopher Plummer's memoir, In Spite of Myself and it is quite interesting. He certainly was aquainted with the grandest old names of British, Canadian and American theater in the 1940's and 1950's.  I enjoy reading about them as much as I do reading about himself.

Yawn....yeah, time to go back to bed.  Have a happy day everyone. 

Mmmmm, Our Suite Smells Like An Indian Restaurant At the Moment!

My husband arrived home from work today more cheery and happy than he has been in weeks. He is crediting in part his morning exercise routine.  He was able to complete today a huge outstanding task that has been hanging over his head for the past 3 months or more with no time to complete the work.  Now it is done in time for some restructuring that is going to happen in the office in the new year, so I think he was pretty pumped by the time his work day ended.  YAY!

He took one look at my sour, heavy lidded, snuffling face and decided he would prefer to make his own dinner tonight, hahaha.  We had some leftover Thai rice and couscous he heated with some frozen peas and chicken breast, then he chopped up 3 small onions and sauteed them with a can of chick peas, using a wonderful Dal and Chana Spice Mix we purchased recently at Nutters to flavour the dish.  Oh, how wonderful.  The suite still smells so warm and comforting, an hour after he finished his meal.  Even my burning, stuffed up sinuses are capable of taking in that wonderful spicy odor.  Niiiiiiice!!!  I managed to eat a bit of rice and chicken with some corn but by the time the chickpeas and onions were ready I had consumed my allowed amount of carbs, so will have my portion for lunch tomorrow.  YES!!

I spent most of the day laying down when I wasn't preparing a meal or washing up dishes or taking various items to the basement recycling and laundry baskets.  More coughing has been going on today and tonight the top of my chest is very sore and I have no energy for stair climbing...soooo, I suppose, as usual, this infection will continue to worsen for a couple of more days.  When an early winter cold is an annual event a person learns to read their own body's symptoms fairly accurately.  I am guessing that if my lungs get much worse over the weekend I will be crawling over to the walk-in clinic on Monday or Tuesday morning and hoping my own doctor is the one on call.  Antibiotics....sure would like to avoid them this time around!!

My husband had no more symptoms today, but it could just mean the onslaught of major symptoms will show up a week from now as he is trying to get ready for his out of province meetings. I am praying it doesn't happen and if it does, well so be it, but I always figure it doesn't hurt to ask, right?  I had symptoms exactly a week before this cold hit me full on and they cleared up within a day, just like what is happening to my husband right now....I really, really hope it is not indicative that  he too is getting ill. 

I had the most lovely chat with my mom today for her 90th birthday.  Dad couldn't keep the secret that he had some kind of surprise planned for her this afternoon, hahaha.  She had one birthday party yesterday and has another one going on tomorrow, plus one or two next week.  It is a great time of celebration for her, her friends more than making up for her absent only child.  Bless those dear folk.

Our son got called into work today by one of his former employers, so that was good news.  Not sure if it was just for today or if it will continue for a few more days, but every bit helps!  Thank you Lord!

I am going to bed.  It is quarter past 7, but I am so tired despite having slept most of the day, that I am going to listen to my body and go to bed anyway.  Nighty night!

Such Pretty Snowlakes

There is a bit of snowfall today, but each flake or cluster of flakes seems to be taking its sweet time falling to the ground.  It is like the snow is suspended in mid air because of how long it is taking to reach the ground. So beautiful.  

The other day when I had my wonderful long walk to buy boots I had the fun of walking under big trees that were coated with heavy frost.  A few puffs of wind dislodged the frost from the tree branches every so often and it drifted down in large, lovely clumps into my hair, all over my dark coloured winter coat...it was like a fairyland.  

I am certain that, had I had my wits about me growing up, I would have decided on a career as a meteorologist, instead of drifting about aimlessly from one dismal job to another for most of my working life, but it didn't happen that way.

Today I am enjoying looking out my bedroom window at those lovely snowflakes just hanging in the air, a tiny bit of sunshine glinting off them...so gorgeous it almost brings me to tears.

Sometimes Things Don't Quite Work Out

My husband did his research on flights to Alberta next week on the faint hope he MIGHT be able to sneak off for a 1 day return flight so he could go to Nana's funeral, but he couldn't find a flight under five hundred dollars on the day(s) he would have to be away.  Although he has a friend who could pick him up at the airport and take him to the funeral etc., the cost is ridiculous.  As my husband says, quoting another indignant family member, "I wouldn't pay it!!"  He also is diplaying symptoms of the same cold and sinus infection I am currently battling, plus the Bishop is out of the country right now and they shouldn't both be away at the same time.

Anyway, despite the disappointment, my husband feels okay that he cannot go to the funeral.  I thought he would be much more disappointed than he is, but he says that if it was that important to God that he be there, then he wouldn't be battling a cold just about the time he has to make quick plans to go.  That is true of course.  If he doesn't get as serious a cold as I have it may be possible to come up with a standby flight the day before the funeral and still go.  He needs to get through any cold that attacks him and get well in time to go to the National Executive ArchDeacons meetings in Victoria the following week. If he felt that strongly he absolutely needed to be there he would have no qualms about the cost either; out would come his credit card and it would all be booked.  He COULD afford it if he felt he had to be there.

I cancelled my attendance at the two choir rehearsals this weekend.  The hassle for me is that I doubt I will be well enough by next weekend to attend either rehearsal either.  That pretty much scuttles my participation in the one impromptu choir I was most excited about singing with at the Carol Festival because there are only 3 rehearsals in total with them and I will be missing 2 of them.  O well, that is just the way it goes sometimes.   

Like my husband being okay with missing his second mom's funeral, I am actually okay about missing some choir participation.  That is just how it is sometimes.  Colds and 'flu's show up at the most inconvenient times.  

The bit of disappointment for me is that I had hoped to fly out on a stand by flight either last night or early this morning to Calgary so I could surprise my mother on her 90th birthday today.  Again, yes, it is disappointing to be too ill to go, but still I am fine with it.  

Peace in the midst of disappointment is one of the best residual effects of being a disciple of Christ I think.  Just knowing there is someone bigger and more important involved in how life's plans do or don't work out is comforting.  It keeps disappointments from being overwhelming.  

Well, it is not even 8:30am and I am heading back to bed for awhile.  Again, I had a pretty good sleep last night and thank you for praying for me.  Learning to sleep soundly and comfortably while sitting up all night has been a wonderful skill, developed after breaking my ankle a few years ago and not being able to lay down at all in bed for about 8 months in a row.  Sleeping in an upright position when I have a cold certainly keeps my throat and sinuses from being as congested as they get when I am lying down.  I have a big tv pillow that helps me stay upright once I do fall asleep.  What a handy tool that massive pillow is.  LOVE IT! 

Yawn......time to go and read myself to sleep for awhile before I give mom a call for her special day.

Guess I CAN Get a Cold Now....hahaha

Good morning and thanks to those of you who indicated you were praying for me last night.  I do have a cold of some kind that has moved in less than 12 hours from my sinuses to my lungs, BUT the evidence of your prayers is that I slept amazingly well last night.  It was a deep and restful sleep despite the war going on in my body as it fights this illness.  It was not the usual groggy headed, interrupted, sleep that makes an ill person feel dreadful upon waking. 

I will see how I am doing tomorrow and then, assuming this cold or whatever, is going to hang on for awhile and I do not wake up healed in the morning, I will let the two choirs know I will be unable to rehearse this weekend.  I am still hoping, perhaps unreasonably, knowing how that first cold of the season usually affects me, that this will be my only miss on the music!  

This morning I left for running errands just after my husband left for work.  I decided that chances are I will feel worse tomorrow and Saturday rather than better, so since I needed some groceries and to pay utility bills, it was best to just get it over with.  I am so grateful for the warm parka I bought last spring at the Sears Warehouse closing sale. It has a huge hood, overly long sleeves and a strong zipper and snaps that go right up under my chin.  I was able to battle the strong winds and get the car scraped and warmed, my errands completed and arrive home before 9am.  Perfect!!  Now I have had my hot shower and am ensconced in my Mark's Comfy robe and fuzzy knee high socks.  

The outside temperature is warming rapidly again, just for today, and is bringing freezing rain to us this afternoon apparently.  On Friday the temperatures are to plunge low again and then rise for a few days.  Crazy!!! No wonder so many of the people I know are also fighting with colds and sinus infections right now.  An extended period of -20C or colder would restore us all to better health and kill off some of the viruses and germs making us ill.
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I have just received the sad news that my husband's "second mom" passed away last night.  She has been ill and in terrible pain and anguish for some months now and for her it is quite a blessing to lay aside her tired, embattled body, and go home to heaven and finally meet her Lord face to face.  She will meet her husband again there and other beloved family members who have gone ahead of her.  To those readers who do not believe in God or heaven I realize how delusional that sounds, but I truly believe it and I pray that Nana's painful physical journey has now ended in peace and joy.  How we will ever get out to her funeral I don't know...well, I am sure we cannot and I feel terrible for my husband, but the Lord knows.

Guess I will go now and say some prayers for Nana's children and grandchildren and their families.  The death of an elderly person is fraught with emotional tension.  For the suffering person it is freedom, for the remaining family and friends it is recognition of hope for  a better life for the person who died, but also a time of intense grief over the loss of someone so dear.

God bless all you readers today.

 

 

NOOOOO....I CAN'T Get a Cold NOW!!!

Just before tonight's dinner I realized there is a small sore gland on one side of my neck and my throat is starting to feel a bit "funny".  Also my nose has been dripping steadily all day.  I realize as well I have not slept very well for the past 6 nights in a row, a sure fire symptom that my body is trying to fight something like a viral infection.

Please, if you have a few minutes, friends and family could you shoot up a quick prayer for me to remain healthy for the next four weeks? During that time I have 6 rehearsals and 4 concerts with 2 different choirs. Now is NOT the time to be ill!

Thank you so much!  I have wrapped my neck in a heavy scarf after slathering Vicks VapoRub all over it and have located the mouth wash the dentist gave me for rinsing after my last crown was put on. It contains a mild anti-biotic and the dental hygienist told me she gargles with it for a couple of days if she feels a throat infection coming on. Usually that kills off whatever is bothering her throat. I will start gargling tonight before bed!!

"I'm Baaaaack!" Says Old Man Winter

So, I'm back from the grocery store and it is FREEZING cold outside again! The brief, uncharacterisic Chinook-type of conditions are all ready over.  The sky is grey with ugly looking clouds, no sign of this morning's sunshine. The bitter wind started to blow steadily about an hour after I returned from my glorious walk.  What a perfect window of time opened up to me for that great time of outdoor exercise.  I am even more grateful now than I was during my walk.  I could have waited until later in the morning to go to Service Canada.  I could have planned a bus ride closer to the noon hour and eaten a salad at Cornwall Centre, then walked out into the cold and miserable, howling wind and scuttled any thought of walking to Cathedral to get new boots, if the idea had even occurred to me then.  

Did you ever have one of those days where it feels like God did something special just for you?  I know all our sunshine and warmth this morning was NOT just for me, but it certainly feels like it right now!  Bless the Lord!

What An Unexpectedly Awesome Morning Out of Doors!!

My bus trip early this morning to the Service Canada building to complete some paperwork turned into a fabulous time!!  

I was at SC when they opened, so I emerged 15 minutes later, paperwork completed and just in time to miss my bus home.  Since it wasn't even 9am there really wasn't anywhere open for business yet to wait for the next bus that would come 30 minutes later, other than some crowded, noisy coffee shops, which I loathe.  Hmmmm....what to do on a lovely morning, the cool wind starting to die down, the warm air that rolled into the city yesterday beckoning me to remain outside as long as possible.....

Then the mini-adventure light began blinking in my foggy morning brain and I decided to take a risk on falling down by taking a nice long walk!  My goal was to walk from downtown over the Catheral district to Inannone's shoe store to look for some winter, fleece lined ankle boots.  My pant legs are not the right width, for the most part, to fit properly over my knee high boots, so I have had to tuck them inside and wander about looking like someone's elderly great grandmother...sorry folks, I do realize I am too old to walk the walk of the fashion egoist, but my day to walk around in public with my dress pants tucked into my boots has not quite yet arrived.  It is just a "thing" with me. I don't care or even notice what other people do with their boots and pant legs, but on me....I can't stand that tuck-in look.  

The wind was still blowing a bit, so I zipped up my coat, tucked my hair in around my neck and headed for Albert Street and Cathedral.  It was a grand walk.  I stuck to the main business streets and I have to commend all the businesses who have obviously taken a lot of time and trouble to clear their sidewalks of ice and snow.  It was impressive along my entire, nearly 5km round trip walk.  On the entire route the only place that made no attempt whatsoever to clean off the sidewalks since winter arrived was the University of Regina along their College Avenue campus construction project.  Shame on you!  What a mess you are going to have there for pedestrians to navigate once the spring cycle of melt and freeze starts up. Yikes!!  The lack of maintenance on those walks was even more obvious because the surrounding sidewalks, cared for by such as the CBC, Saskatchewan Production Studios, CNIB and the Province of Saskatchewan were so clean and safe to walk on.  Thank you to your maintenance crews.  It is much appreciated by all the pedestrians, I am sure.  Appropriate phone calls of thanks will be made this afternoon.

When I got to Iannone's I discovered they were not going to open for another 45 minutes, so I ducked into The Mercury restaurant for a pot of tea and a slice of toast.  It was a lovely mid morning snack.  Once I was done I wandered across the street to Safeway and found they had a good supply of Pure Leaf unsweetened green tea in stock...a favourite treat of my husband's.  It was fun to be able to check out the grocery store without any stress that I had to race around purchasing items and then rush home to unpack them.  So rarely do I just go on reconnaisance trips to such places.

Inannone's had the very sort of boots I was looking for despite not having a lot of selection this year:  black, fuzzy wool lining the foot and not just the short shaft, room for my orthotics, plus soles that would grip the ice.  I was not happy with the soles when I first looked at them, but then the clerk showed me the coolest thing: the boots come with a little metal tab that pulls up a small set of ice grips out of the sole and easily retracts them for when you go inside a store or house and don't need them until going back outside.  It will fit on my key chain easily.  That sold me.  That helped me overlook the fact that they are lace up boots instead of slip ons with zippers.  Well, I used to be pretty quick at handling lace up boots, so why not use them to work on my manual dexterity, right? hahaha  The other selling point for me is that they are black patent leather....teehee....SO CUTE!!!!  I haven't worn patent leather anything on my feet since I was 12 years old!!  hahaha  Yes, they will scuff easily and I will be cursing them in a matter of weeks for that, but the price was right, they are warm and just the right height to cover my ankles without interfering with my pant legs.  I told my husband I wanted a second pair of boots this winter as my Christmas gift, so he gave me his blessing and there you go....proper ankle boots for the first time in many years!  My beloved knee highs will now be able to last me an extra year or two because I won't be wearing them every day that I go outside this winter.

By the time I left the shoe store for the much longer walk home, the sun was shining with some warmth, the wind had been reduced to the gentlest of cool breezes and I dawdled as slowly as possible to be able to stay outside as long as I could.  It was fantastic!   

I feel far more energized by being able to walk outside than I ever do exercising indoors, of course, in the stale air of the suite.  I am geared up now to drive over to my favourite grocery store after lunch and pick up some food items.  The one useful thing I did at the Safeway was record the prices there for the items I am buying and I know I will pay less for most of them shopping where I shop.

Sunshine, warmth, overcoming my annual beginning of winter fear and paranoia about walking outside, getting an early Christmas gift...as my husband's late uncle used to say, "It doesn't get much better than that folks!"  

Two Days of Reprieve Outside

Yesterday's fog preceded a blessed bit of warm front that will be with us again today. If the change in the weather is somewhat less dramatic and long lasting than the changes in Southern Alberta wrought by Chinook winds in winter, it is still a most welcome change!

Fortunately for me, the fog dissipated in plenty of time for my friend to drive into town for lunch and a bit of window shopping in the afternoon. It was fun! We do a lot of laughing together and I surely have been in need of that lately. My feelings were badly wounded the other day by a group of people who treated myself and the young person I was with as if we were 5 year olds intruding on the adults' dinner party when we tried to do some music practise in a space we had prebooked, only to arrive and find it occupied by the aforementioned group who refused to leave. I made no ruckus about it at the time for the sake of the young lady I had with me, but the injustice of the situation bothered me; more so than warranted, because injustice and OCD are a bad combination. Spending time with my friend, each sharing stories of injustices suffered at the hands of others this past week, was healing to the mind and spirit. Confession can certainly assist the flow of forgiveness, that is for sure. As is our usual practise, we then began finding some humour in our situations and the laughter began. The laughter helps me put what actually are small upsets into perspective. My friend has always had an amazing gift for doing that, despite having suffered some of the worst, REAL injustices life has to offer. She helps me and I am grateful. Bless you Pat.

I came home afterward to find my husband champing at the bit to get to the library. As I previously posted, he has discovered he can borrow a series of childhood favourite books through inter-library loans and had secured the next book in the Swallows and Amazon series. He hadn't had a chance as a kid to read them all. Next he wanted to go to one of the newest Chinese buffet restaurants and give their food a try. (Thank you cute neighbour boy, again, for the book of restaurant Free Coupons!)

Well....Rose Garden restaurant near the corner of Park and Victoria has one of the larger selections at the buffet tables and the wait staff are excellent, but for the most part the flavours are too bland for us. However, there were a few standout dishes: cubed chicken pieces with hot peppers was a wonderfully spicy noodle dish, supposedly more fiery than anything else in the trays; the rice noodles were specifically labelled as being hot, but they were pretty mild....at least the few "slippery little devils" I was able to drag onto my plate with the woefully inadequate metal tongs were not at all worthy of a "spicy hot" label. Even more delicious was a steamed whole fish. I don't know the type of fish, but it was garnished with slivered shallots and ginger and melted in my mouth. I would gladly return to Rose Garden just for more of that fish, the spicy chicken, the gyozas, the sweetened Chinese eggplant, and a chance to try a few more of the huge selection of vegetable combos, rice and noodle dishes. There was even a good selection of tiny sushi rolls, but the rice was typical Chinese rice without the necessary rice vinegar to keep it moist and sticky instead of dry and tasteless.

The desserts were quite an eclectic mix that gave me the giggles: there were rice wrappers stuffed with tiny rice noodles, similar to the hot spring rolls, but cold instead with a sweet green sauce, icing covered chocolate and white cakes layered with custard, two different types of individually wrapped cookies..."store bought" as my mother would say....chocolate ones shaped like butterflies and white ones shaped like crescent moons and stuffed with apricot paste, puff pastry balls with or without sugar, a large, lidded bowl of unwrapped, tiny cookies shaped like Christmas decorations, bowls of blueberry and raspberry gelatin chunks, slices of cantaloupe, bowls of deep purple seedless grapes that were SO tasty, two fruit pies with crusts so thick and flaky they could not have been purchased at any of the local grocery store bakeries, and our favourite little balls of fried dough rolled in a light sweet sauce and sesame seeds. The delightful surprise was that these sesame balls were filled with anko paste! I have only eaten red bean paste a few times since leaving Tokyo, so finding it in the sesame balls was a tasty treat!

It was very nice indeed to leave the restaurant and walk to the car in the warm air! My husband and I both detest coming out of a restaurant of a chilly winter evening, filled with hot comfort food and having to crawl into a freezing cold vehicle for the drive home. 

After a couple of depressing weeks of adjusting to winter, life is starting to roll along pretty well again. Thank you Lord!  Is it just encroaching old age that makes the winter more difficult to deal with in recent years?