.....my husband is touring one of the local mosques with other members of the city's ecumenical church leaders. It should be an informative visit. We are missing our Egyptian friends since they moved over a year ago now and I think that is part of my husband's motivation for going tonight when he is facing a very busy weekend on too many nights of short sleeps.
As for me, I am sitting here keyboarding emails and blog posts, doing dishes and I just watched a CityTV programme filmed here in Saskatchewan: Mobile MD. It is a reality based programme about a former Moose Jaw General Practitioner who has given up her office practise to take her skills and her big medically equipped RV on the road. She drives to isolated towns and farming/ranching operations around our province and helps diagnose and treat those who live far, far, far from any sort of medical service. I don't know how long this programme has been running, but I did enjoy it tonight. I learned a few simple things about my former carpel tunnel problems I hadn't understood before and I learned a few more tricks for the next time plantar fasciitis bothers me. I learned about a condition known as "frozen shoulder", how and why that happens and what to do to help the shoulder become more mobile while the condition subsides, usually over a long period of time. I think I will watch the programme again next week. Way more fun to watch and learn than "googling" medical info....which I rarely do, particuarly for my own medical issues. (No point in scaring myself until the need actually arises, right?)
We have had so much fun the past two days going online to find various examples of available "pink noise" to use when we are trying to sleep through the neighbours' all nighters. My husband found an amazing one that sounds like the deep thrumming of a jet engine. He tried a rain forest waterfall last night but it didn't do much when people were standing outside the bedroom window chatting at 2am. I think tonight he will try the jet engine. My little fan worked pretty well. Only the thumping and banging kept me awake for awhile after getting up to use the washroom at 3am.
Today was such a beautiful day once the ice melted off the sidewalks by about noon. We had a substantial amount of rain last evening before the temperature dropped below zero so this morning was absolutely treacherous for walking anywhere. My husband drove to his political discussion group and I waited until he got home to drive over to the store for milk. I am living for April when at some point the ice will be gone and I can start walking all over the city once again.
Praying we can sleep tonight as we have a non-stop day between 7:30am and 10pm.
Friday, February 28, 2020
My Disposition May Not Be Sunny, But San Francisco IS!
Our son sent us a few photos this morning of his trip to California. There are some nice ones. He enjoyed the tour of Alcatraz and he and his girlfriend spent a day in a beautiful sunny park. As I look out on the snow and freezing rain melt here, the brown trees and shrubs and the general winter prairie greyness, I can't help wishing I could escape to sunnier climes even for a few days....sigh..... SUPER happy that at least the one member of our family had the chance to!
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| Mission Dolores Park |
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| At Alcatraz |
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| At San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |
Thursday, February 27, 2020
If This Rain Keeps Up I'll Just Have To Rely On My Sunny Disposition! No....Wait......
Thanks Maxine......teehee You are my favourite greeting card character.
To quote Robert Louis Stevenson, "The rain is raining all around.....".
It is odd weather for the end of February, but in about an hour the rain will turn to snow that will likely melt tomorrow if we reach our forecast high temperature of +6C.
Gotta love the prairies as we approach the end of winter and the beginning of spring, a process that could take another six weeks to complete!
The groundhogs on February 2nd predicted an early spring but the Weather Network, aka the comedy channel, predicts another six weeks of winter. The pig spleen prognosticators are predicting a big spring storm sometime in March. Yeah...right....anyone who lives on the prairies knows you don't need to read a pig's spleen, or tea leaves or palms or the heavenly bodies or auras to know there will be a big spring storm sometime in March. On the prairies that is an annual foregone conclusion, for Pete's sake! It WILL happen, pig parts or no pig parts.
Aaaaah, the joys of weather...I LOVE them all out here on the prairies!
To quote Robert Louis Stevenson, "The rain is raining all around.....".
It is odd weather for the end of February, but in about an hour the rain will turn to snow that will likely melt tomorrow if we reach our forecast high temperature of +6C.
Gotta love the prairies as we approach the end of winter and the beginning of spring, a process that could take another six weeks to complete!
The groundhogs on February 2nd predicted an early spring but the Weather Network, aka the comedy channel, predicts another six weeks of winter. The pig spleen prognosticators are predicting a big spring storm sometime in March. Yeah...right....anyone who lives on the prairies knows you don't need to read a pig's spleen, or tea leaves or palms or the heavenly bodies or auras to know there will be a big spring storm sometime in March. On the prairies that is an annual foregone conclusion, for Pete's sake! It WILL happen, pig parts or no pig parts.
Aaaaah, the joys of weather...I LOVE them all out here on the prairies!
This Possible Solution SHOULD Have Been Obvious!
At about 4am I popped an earplug, was instantly awakened by the sound of people leaving the suite next door and couldn't locate the plug that had fallen from my ear. I tore the bed apart, looked around and under every piece of furniture in my tiny room and came up empy. Sigh.... So, there I was awake and miserable and nauseous once again. Fortunately the last visitors next door left just after 5am and whoever is actually living there more full time went to bed. By 5:30am I was fast asleep even without the earplugs and didn't wake up until 8:30am.
I admit that at 5am I was pretty discouraged about this problem, feeling depressed and ill and hopeless about my sleep disorder issues. After a couple of good sleeps I got my hopes up about being able to sleep through the new noises next door, only to have them dashed. The neighbours are doing their best to live their all night lifestyle without disturbing us. We have noticed how quiet they have become when letting their guests in and out through the front and back doors, closing the doors quietly, not standing around outside chatting. The guests no longer rev their vehicles out in the parking lot outside our windows. Everyone keeps the music down low enough that we can only hear it a bit through the open space in the plumbing area in the bathroom, not in the bedrooms at all. They talk in reasonable tones of voice which, again, can be heard only through the uninsulated spaces between the studs in the bathroom wall and at the bottom of the shared stairwell space. They aren't even thumping up and down the stairs as often as they were for the first few weeks. They are not using tobacco and filling our suite with that or any other poisonous smoke. They are not drinking to shrieking, stumbling excess. They are not pounding on the walls or slamming the bedroom and bathroom doors. The actual tenant(s) is (are) college aged and to us it appears have been trying so hard not to disturb us, but the walls here are thin. Any soundproofing materials that may have been there originally disintegrated a couple of decades ago we are guessing.
So this morning we finally, both of us....brilliant old twits that we are, duh.....realized we have been missing out on the best solution for me, one that we have used in other places and in every hotel room we have ever spent the night in: pink noise!!! It has only taken us a couple of months to come up with the obvious possible solution to my sleep issues and in that two months we have stayed in several hotel rooms where we used it with great success: putting on a fan overnight! I would like to blame sleep deprivation for not coming up with this sooner, but really I am just tired and distracted and old and forgetful!
We have a wonderful fan down in the basement that we use during the summer when I have to have the bedroom window open to keep the suite cool overnight when the temperatures finally drop a few degrees after the hot days. I am about to go downstairs and haul the thing up to the bedroom, clean it up and start using it this very night!
Honestly, how stupid can I be, right? Every time we stay in alternate accommodation on holidays away, the last thing I do before crawling into bed is put on the bathroom or heating unit fan in our room.
Not thinking of this idea long before now? I think I am losing it......
Our son is flying back to NYC from California today. He has had the time of his life revisiting that warm, sunny state. I am praying he is not exposed to coronavirus on the airplane....doesn't matter how old he gets, I still make mommy noises in regard to his health. Can't seem to help it.... Our son has now seen pretty much every place of interest he has not had the time to see on previous trips there, so he is quite excited to tell us more about his adventures. I am grateful he was staying in a first rate hotel this time, getting enough sleep and having a safe, relaxing place to go when his girlfriend was working in the evenings.
My husband is spending the day writing an article. His sermon for this coming Sunday is complete and has been copied. He wrote it on Monday and copied it on Tuesday, so he has been free all the rest of this week to work on his other writing. Tonight he is going to a public forum on free speech vs hate speech and what kind is who and who kind is what....haha I wish everyone success in figuring that one out! Glad though that the people in this city are attempting to distinguish what constitutes actual hate speech and not just assume that every interpretation of what that is will be correct. They are going to discuss the "grey areas" apparently and see what they come up with. I just hope and pray it is a peaceful gathering and that the people in attendance have open minds and logical thinking processes. May sanity prevail!
I will be ironing. Yippee..........
The sun is shining, it is gearing up to be a lovely warm day, temperature outside a few degrees above zero. I am hoping for some more melting of the thick ice that is covering the ground between my back steps and the car lot. There has been some progress, but there is still a lot of ice out there I can't avoid stepping on when I go out to the car.
I admit that at 5am I was pretty discouraged about this problem, feeling depressed and ill and hopeless about my sleep disorder issues. After a couple of good sleeps I got my hopes up about being able to sleep through the new noises next door, only to have them dashed. The neighbours are doing their best to live their all night lifestyle without disturbing us. We have noticed how quiet they have become when letting their guests in and out through the front and back doors, closing the doors quietly, not standing around outside chatting. The guests no longer rev their vehicles out in the parking lot outside our windows. Everyone keeps the music down low enough that we can only hear it a bit through the open space in the plumbing area in the bathroom, not in the bedrooms at all. They talk in reasonable tones of voice which, again, can be heard only through the uninsulated spaces between the studs in the bathroom wall and at the bottom of the shared stairwell space. They aren't even thumping up and down the stairs as often as they were for the first few weeks. They are not using tobacco and filling our suite with that or any other poisonous smoke. They are not drinking to shrieking, stumbling excess. They are not pounding on the walls or slamming the bedroom and bathroom doors. The actual tenant(s) is (are) college aged and to us it appears have been trying so hard not to disturb us, but the walls here are thin. Any soundproofing materials that may have been there originally disintegrated a couple of decades ago we are guessing.
So this morning we finally, both of us....brilliant old twits that we are, duh.....realized we have been missing out on the best solution for me, one that we have used in other places and in every hotel room we have ever spent the night in: pink noise!!! It has only taken us a couple of months to come up with the obvious possible solution to my sleep issues and in that two months we have stayed in several hotel rooms where we used it with great success: putting on a fan overnight! I would like to blame sleep deprivation for not coming up with this sooner, but really I am just tired and distracted and old and forgetful!
We have a wonderful fan down in the basement that we use during the summer when I have to have the bedroom window open to keep the suite cool overnight when the temperatures finally drop a few degrees after the hot days. I am about to go downstairs and haul the thing up to the bedroom, clean it up and start using it this very night!
Honestly, how stupid can I be, right? Every time we stay in alternate accommodation on holidays away, the last thing I do before crawling into bed is put on the bathroom or heating unit fan in our room.
Not thinking of this idea long before now? I think I am losing it......
Our son is flying back to NYC from California today. He has had the time of his life revisiting that warm, sunny state. I am praying he is not exposed to coronavirus on the airplane....doesn't matter how old he gets, I still make mommy noises in regard to his health. Can't seem to help it.... Our son has now seen pretty much every place of interest he has not had the time to see on previous trips there, so he is quite excited to tell us more about his adventures. I am grateful he was staying in a first rate hotel this time, getting enough sleep and having a safe, relaxing place to go when his girlfriend was working in the evenings.
My husband is spending the day writing an article. His sermon for this coming Sunday is complete and has been copied. He wrote it on Monday and copied it on Tuesday, so he has been free all the rest of this week to work on his other writing. Tonight he is going to a public forum on free speech vs hate speech and what kind is who and who kind is what....haha I wish everyone success in figuring that one out! Glad though that the people in this city are attempting to distinguish what constitutes actual hate speech and not just assume that every interpretation of what that is will be correct. They are going to discuss the "grey areas" apparently and see what they come up with. I just hope and pray it is a peaceful gathering and that the people in attendance have open minds and logical thinking processes. May sanity prevail!
I will be ironing. Yippee..........
The sun is shining, it is gearing up to be a lovely warm day, temperature outside a few degrees above zero. I am hoping for some more melting of the thick ice that is covering the ground between my back steps and the car lot. There has been some progress, but there is still a lot of ice out there I can't avoid stepping on when I go out to the car.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Safely Home
Penelope phoned me this morning! I was so happy to hear her voice. She is grateful for all the prayers that have sustained her to this point in time. She is having typical post surgical discomfort and residual anaesthetic induced brain fuzz, but she certainly sounded cheery on the phone. Pre-physiotherapy exercises are all ready underway and fortunately she has a comfy recliner chair to sleep in until she is able to get comfortable again in her own bed. She has had a long and painful wait for this surgery and will have a second joint replaced in about six months’ time. Yay! May you experience a swift recovery my friend.
The drops the doctor prescribed for my conjunctivitis are working swiftly and well! I was questioning his decision to have me administer two drops twice per day rather than the recommended one drop four times per day, but wow, the drops are working very well on the doctor’s prescribed schedule. It is all good.
My husband is in charge of preparing the Lenten breakfasts at his Wednesday morning group. They are not going to the restaurant during the 40 days of Lent. Instead, my husband is preparing a couple of types of simple hot porridges with a small variety of condiments. Tonight he is participating in the ecumenical Ash Wednesday service with his parishioners out of town.
I should be at the Ash Wednesday service too, either with him or at my own church, but I don’t want to spread this eye infection. Also, as this day has progressed, I have found myself developing cold chills and hot flashes, my muscles are starting to ache and this evening I have a low grade fever. Sigh....seems that whatever viruses and bacterial infections I have been able to stave off so far this winter are taking opportunity to finally attack me now that my immune system is tied up fighting the conjunctivitis! Opportunistic little bugs!
My husband has also been dragging his tail feathers since arriving home from the breakfast this morning. Perhaps he too is fighting some kind of infection. We have remained incredibly healthy all winter so perhaps it is our turn to be ill for a few days. I hope and pray that is not the case.
I have been planning a trip to several banks tomorrow morning, but this afternoon when I realized there was more bothering me that my eyes, I hopped in the car and completed the banking and several other errands. I cancelled our attendance at my church seniors’ luncheon tomorrow and may have to pull out of a potluck dinner and games evening with friends on the weekend. Blah! Disappointing, but no point going out and spreading disease and feeling wretched while doing it. I have no patience with people who go out socializing when they are ill. It seems most inconsiderate to others.
After another poor sleep last night for no good reason, I will pack it on early tonight and see if I can sleep off whatever else seems to be ailing me! Hope to feel better soon!
The drops the doctor prescribed for my conjunctivitis are working swiftly and well! I was questioning his decision to have me administer two drops twice per day rather than the recommended one drop four times per day, but wow, the drops are working very well on the doctor’s prescribed schedule. It is all good.
My husband is in charge of preparing the Lenten breakfasts at his Wednesday morning group. They are not going to the restaurant during the 40 days of Lent. Instead, my husband is preparing a couple of types of simple hot porridges with a small variety of condiments. Tonight he is participating in the ecumenical Ash Wednesday service with his parishioners out of town.
I should be at the Ash Wednesday service too, either with him or at my own church, but I don’t want to spread this eye infection. Also, as this day has progressed, I have found myself developing cold chills and hot flashes, my muscles are starting to ache and this evening I have a low grade fever. Sigh....seems that whatever viruses and bacterial infections I have been able to stave off so far this winter are taking opportunity to finally attack me now that my immune system is tied up fighting the conjunctivitis! Opportunistic little bugs!
My husband has also been dragging his tail feathers since arriving home from the breakfast this morning. Perhaps he too is fighting some kind of infection. We have remained incredibly healthy all winter so perhaps it is our turn to be ill for a few days. I hope and pray that is not the case.
I have been planning a trip to several banks tomorrow morning, but this afternoon when I realized there was more bothering me that my eyes, I hopped in the car and completed the banking and several other errands. I cancelled our attendance at my church seniors’ luncheon tomorrow and may have to pull out of a potluck dinner and games evening with friends on the weekend. Blah! Disappointing, but no point going out and spreading disease and feeling wretched while doing it. I have no patience with people who go out socializing when they are ill. It seems most inconsiderate to others.
After another poor sleep last night for no good reason, I will pack it on early tonight and see if I can sleep off whatever else seems to be ailing me! Hope to feel better soon!
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
What I Learned From Nature Channel Today! + (Do My Eyes Look Pink To You????)
This morning I watched a programme on Nature Channel about Australia's predatory birds. One of the most fascinating birds to me is the small black breasted buzzard: it is the only Australian bird that uses tools to assist in feeding itself!! It loves to eat the eggs of the emu, however the father emus sit for 56 days on the eggs to incubate them, without ever leaving those eggs, even to eat or drink. Since an emu is 45 times heavier than one of those buzzards, the buzzards cannot sneak under the wings of the emus to access those eggs. However, occasionally an egg gets left behind when the rest of the little birds have hatched and the emu family moves on. In those cases, when a black breasted buzzard discovers that egg he has to break the thick shell to get at the edible insides. So, he picks up the nearest small stone that he is able to balance in his beak and smashes the stone against the egg shell until it breaks. Apparently this is innate behaviour and is not taught by parents birds to their young. Amazing! Incredible! I was impressed!!
In other news: Penelope had a successful surgery and is resting back at home....probably not very comfortably yet, but at least she is home where it is quieter than the hospital. Things apparently went very well in surgery and finally the spinal anaesthetic cleared her system late last evening. So grateful she is likely going to be A-OK and I pray she doesn't have long to wait until her restorative physiotherapy can begin.
Had another good chat with Mom tonight. She got to go with some other seniors on the residence bus to a pub I am familiar with in her neighbourhood. It was too busy and noisy for her hearing aids to be very effective for good conversation with the others sitting around her, but she had a wonderful time, enjoyed her steak sandwich and onion rings VERY much and was feeling satisfied when she got home....just in time to field a phone call from a friend wanting to know if she could pick Mom up to go and visit Dad. Mom said it would be a great idea and away she went again. She is very tired tonight, so is going to bed early as she has an eye injection appoinmtment in the morning. My mom is 92 years old and does more in a day often than I do! What a woman!
And finally: I have conjunctivitis!! aka the old "pink eye"! Good grief....I haven't had that since I was a little kid! It hit me just before dinner this evening and spread to both eyes within a couple of hours, so off I went to the walk in clinic where my doctor practises. I am so grateful that despite the number of patients all ready waiting, they still had room on the waiting list for me. My dear husband drove me there and tried valiantly to remain with me for moral support, but the poor dear was so tired that I sent him home. Thank goodness I did as I didn't see the doctor for nearly 2 hours and then I had a half hour wait at the pharmacy for my prescription. I remember shaking hands with quite a few folk at church on Sunday during the greeting time, (I call it "cheesy greet" and it is my most unfavourite part of the service, to be honest.), breaking my cardinal rule to not shake hands with people....EVER!...for the very reason of not wanting to contact or spread bacteria around the congregation. That's what I get for "cheating" on my own rule! hahaha
I came home and "sterilized" with an alcohol rub all my keyboards, phones and other electronic devices that I touch several times a day, also the steering wheel in the car, I have a towel to spread over my pillow when I go to bed tonight that I can change out every night for a few days, the first dose of antibiotic drops has been applied and I will never shake anyone's hand ever again, EVER AGAIN!!! Yikes! hahaha It could be a far more dangerous eye infection, I realize. About 30 years ago I had one that could have left me blind and it kept returning over a period of several months. I am so grateful that my doctor at the time became very concerned and applied some serious medications to my eyes and that was the end of it. I haven't had an eye infection since.
So, if a dose of pink eye is the worst thing in my life right now, I am blessed indeed and have no complaints!
In other news: Penelope had a successful surgery and is resting back at home....probably not very comfortably yet, but at least she is home where it is quieter than the hospital. Things apparently went very well in surgery and finally the spinal anaesthetic cleared her system late last evening. So grateful she is likely going to be A-OK and I pray she doesn't have long to wait until her restorative physiotherapy can begin.
Had another good chat with Mom tonight. She got to go with some other seniors on the residence bus to a pub I am familiar with in her neighbourhood. It was too busy and noisy for her hearing aids to be very effective for good conversation with the others sitting around her, but she had a wonderful time, enjoyed her steak sandwich and onion rings VERY much and was feeling satisfied when she got home....just in time to field a phone call from a friend wanting to know if she could pick Mom up to go and visit Dad. Mom said it would be a great idea and away she went again. She is very tired tonight, so is going to bed early as she has an eye injection appoinmtment in the morning. My mom is 92 years old and does more in a day often than I do! What a woman!
And finally: I have conjunctivitis!! aka the old "pink eye"! Good grief....I haven't had that since I was a little kid! It hit me just before dinner this evening and spread to both eyes within a couple of hours, so off I went to the walk in clinic where my doctor practises. I am so grateful that despite the number of patients all ready waiting, they still had room on the waiting list for me. My dear husband drove me there and tried valiantly to remain with me for moral support, but the poor dear was so tired that I sent him home. Thank goodness I did as I didn't see the doctor for nearly 2 hours and then I had a half hour wait at the pharmacy for my prescription. I remember shaking hands with quite a few folk at church on Sunday during the greeting time, (I call it "cheesy greet" and it is my most unfavourite part of the service, to be honest.), breaking my cardinal rule to not shake hands with people....EVER!...for the very reason of not wanting to contact or spread bacteria around the congregation. That's what I get for "cheating" on my own rule! hahaha
I came home and "sterilized" with an alcohol rub all my keyboards, phones and other electronic devices that I touch several times a day, also the steering wheel in the car, I have a towel to spread over my pillow when I go to bed tonight that I can change out every night for a few days, the first dose of antibiotic drops has been applied and I will never shake anyone's hand ever again, EVER AGAIN!!! Yikes! hahaha It could be a far more dangerous eye infection, I realize. About 30 years ago I had one that could have left me blind and it kept returning over a period of several months. I am so grateful that my doctor at the time became very concerned and applied some serious medications to my eyes and that was the end of it. I haven't had an eye infection since.
So, if a dose of pink eye is the worst thing in my life right now, I am blessed indeed and have no complaints!
My Husband's Turn For a Lousy Sleep
Apparently my ear plugs and closed bedroom door are working better than I realized for blocking out noise in the middle of the night. Our phone rang at 3:45am and I, for probably the first time in my life, didn't hear it dingling away on the other side of the wall!! Unfortunately my husband did hear it and he didn't go back to sleep again in the 3 hours prior to his alarm ringing at 6:45am. Poor guy! It turned out to be one of those middle of the night scam calls, something we discovered when we checked the number online this morning. I am so grateful he didn't answer the phone. No message was left, so we knew it wasn't a family member in trouble. The number we received has been used recently to try to convince people that a loved one is in terrible trouble and needs immediate (financial) assistance. It is possible we will get such calls for several days (nights) in a row until it becomes obvious we are not going to answer, so tonight we will unplug our phones and pray there are no genuine emergencies with either family members or parishioners. Our families have our cell numbers anyway. Aaaargh! We are among the thousands of North Americans who are tired to death of all the scammers calling us day after day. Sigh.....
Monday, February 24, 2020
The Mouseman Cometh...and Goeth...and Returneth at a Later Date!
I got busy right after breakfast this morning, clearing everything out of the cabinets in the kitchen sink unit and removing the various small appliances from the top of it, so that the pest control fellow could work his magic this afternoon.
He arrived right on time at 1pm and my husband showed him what we had done to temporarily seal off access to our kitchen from the mouse invasion. The fellow gave the whole unit, back wall and floor a good going over and was shocked that our cabinet unit had been installed with no sealing off of the holes in the wall between our suite and the one next door. There was a panel behind the sink plumbing, but it was loose even when we first moved in. My husband pulled off the caulking he put on just last week to move the panel and show the pest control man the giant hole in the wall between our suite and the one next door. If he and our neighbour wanted to lie on our respective kitchen floors and look at each other through that large hole, it would be easy enough to do!! The man also located a hole behind the dishwasher that my husband hadn't been able to see.
The end result is that the pest control officer has put his own poisons and traps in the spaces along with our traps and he will be back in about 2 weeks with a plumber and a carpenter and an electrician to fix the whole mess properly. We are delighted!! We have been coping with, trying to fix and catching the mice that are coming in through the mess of disastrous original installation and hopefully this will end the rodent invasion in our suite. My husband will be there whenever the people arrive to do the work and will of course pay attention to what is going on so he can see what they are doing and if it has a hope of working. He didn't grow up on a farm himself and install a lot of cabinets in prairie homes over the years to be ignorant as to how to prevent mice from getting into buildings. I can't wait for this to be done and over with. I replaced everything into and on top of the cabinet unit to await the rest of the pest control crew, when I will haul it all back into the dining room for the day.
We were wondering late yesterday afternoon if there was going to be another party next door. The one very loud party instigator guy who is just a loud sort anyway, was getting pretty aggressive sounding by after dinner last evening. The number of people entering the suite was so large we wondered where they were all going to be able to fit. I was standing on the back deck in the twilight enjoying the warm evening when one car load of young people arrived, including one of the actual renters. I felt rewarded for my trouble of trying to connect when I received a muttered but actual verbal response, "hullo" to my greeting as she walked past me. This is a big step up from the original stony silence and later short grunts, so I am pleased about that. It inspires me to keep trying to let her know we want to be good neighbours who mind our business, but would like to be able to at least say hello when we run across each other on the way to and from our vehicles. Shortly after 10pm the entire suite emptied itself of laughing, hollering people, they piled into the vehicles they had parked in all manner of other tenants' assigned parking places, drove off into the night, and that was it. No more party, at least not here in our building. I kept my ear plugs in and kept the bedroom door closed all night, even though that doesn't help much when there is a lot of bashing and banging about next door, but I slept fantastically well all night and heard nothing. My husband was awake for awhile a couple of times in the night as he was having trouble sleeping, but he didn't hear any noises coming from next door either. The tenant and her vehicle arrived back home late this morning but she has been quiet. Now that Reading Week is over for the university, the other student gals living there were back home earlier this morning from their week away, running for their usual bus to get to class.
I am starting to settle down about the issues next door now. Things kind of peaked bv the end of last week. By Saturday I was realizing I can cope with the "regular" noises from next door, that I am going to hear no matter who is over there because of the lack of soundproofing. Even last night when it appeared there was going to be a huge party I didn't panic. I put the phone and the noise complaint number beside the bed in case we had to make a call to shut it down, but I fell asleep without the niggling stress that I would CERTAINLY wake up if I heard any noise at all. The OCD exercises are starting to work. I didn't clench my teeth last night and have hardly any pain in my jaw today. Prayer has been a huge factor in getting a grip!
All being well, Penelope should be in surgery as I am writing this. I am hoping that it is a successful joint replacement. I know she will be disciplined about doing her physiotherapy afterward and I pray that she can concentrate on that while she awaits her biopsy results from the other, unrelated, surgical procedure she had last week. I am grateful she has a husband who can assist her at home and help with cooking and cleaning until she is able to do those tasks again herself. Lots to pray about!
Kat took a bad fall yesterday and hurt her wrist and knee. According to some onlookers it was a spectacular spill when her foot slipped off a curb as she was moving from a parking area to a sidewalk. She nearly concussed by hitting her head on a big steel waste bin, but landing on her wrist saved her head. I talked to her this morning and she is a bit stiff, but not in the amount of pain she thought she might be in. What a relief. WHEW! I am so grateful she didn't break her wrist. She said she slept okay last night, so that is good too. Maybe she will get a chance to rest and recover today.
We have decided we are going to change our strategy for the next time we go out for Chinese food with the Sunday church group: we HAVE to stop eating what they usually order as it has far too many carbs in the form of deep fried batters and sweet sauces. If we bow out of the group order and just order a plate of tofu for my husband and a plate of chicken with mixed vegetables for myself and pay our bills separately from the group we can save some money along with our health and still enjoy the fellowship. We will be royally razzed by the rest of them, but it will be a good source for some new jokes and teasing, so that is not a bad thing.
We have eaten lightly today to make up for the feasting after church yesterday and tonight I am making a simple tuna salad for dinner. I was doing very well on my weight loss diet until this past week when I gave in to far too many temptations. I don't want to lose the bit of ground I gained previously on this diet. I feel good about continuing and I am pleased that even that less than a full week with some dietary cheats made me feel badly enough to be eager to get back on track.
The weather is glorious once again today...it is overcast but just a degree below zero and barely a breeze. I LOVE this weather! Long may it last!
He arrived right on time at 1pm and my husband showed him what we had done to temporarily seal off access to our kitchen from the mouse invasion. The fellow gave the whole unit, back wall and floor a good going over and was shocked that our cabinet unit had been installed with no sealing off of the holes in the wall between our suite and the one next door. There was a panel behind the sink plumbing, but it was loose even when we first moved in. My husband pulled off the caulking he put on just last week to move the panel and show the pest control man the giant hole in the wall between our suite and the one next door. If he and our neighbour wanted to lie on our respective kitchen floors and look at each other through that large hole, it would be easy enough to do!! The man also located a hole behind the dishwasher that my husband hadn't been able to see.
The end result is that the pest control officer has put his own poisons and traps in the spaces along with our traps and he will be back in about 2 weeks with a plumber and a carpenter and an electrician to fix the whole mess properly. We are delighted!! We have been coping with, trying to fix and catching the mice that are coming in through the mess of disastrous original installation and hopefully this will end the rodent invasion in our suite. My husband will be there whenever the people arrive to do the work and will of course pay attention to what is going on so he can see what they are doing and if it has a hope of working. He didn't grow up on a farm himself and install a lot of cabinets in prairie homes over the years to be ignorant as to how to prevent mice from getting into buildings. I can't wait for this to be done and over with. I replaced everything into and on top of the cabinet unit to await the rest of the pest control crew, when I will haul it all back into the dining room for the day.
We were wondering late yesterday afternoon if there was going to be another party next door. The one very loud party instigator guy who is just a loud sort anyway, was getting pretty aggressive sounding by after dinner last evening. The number of people entering the suite was so large we wondered where they were all going to be able to fit. I was standing on the back deck in the twilight enjoying the warm evening when one car load of young people arrived, including one of the actual renters. I felt rewarded for my trouble of trying to connect when I received a muttered but actual verbal response, "hullo" to my greeting as she walked past me. This is a big step up from the original stony silence and later short grunts, so I am pleased about that. It inspires me to keep trying to let her know we want to be good neighbours who mind our business, but would like to be able to at least say hello when we run across each other on the way to and from our vehicles. Shortly after 10pm the entire suite emptied itself of laughing, hollering people, they piled into the vehicles they had parked in all manner of other tenants' assigned parking places, drove off into the night, and that was it. No more party, at least not here in our building. I kept my ear plugs in and kept the bedroom door closed all night, even though that doesn't help much when there is a lot of bashing and banging about next door, but I slept fantastically well all night and heard nothing. My husband was awake for awhile a couple of times in the night as he was having trouble sleeping, but he didn't hear any noises coming from next door either. The tenant and her vehicle arrived back home late this morning but she has been quiet. Now that Reading Week is over for the university, the other student gals living there were back home earlier this morning from their week away, running for their usual bus to get to class.
I am starting to settle down about the issues next door now. Things kind of peaked bv the end of last week. By Saturday I was realizing I can cope with the "regular" noises from next door, that I am going to hear no matter who is over there because of the lack of soundproofing. Even last night when it appeared there was going to be a huge party I didn't panic. I put the phone and the noise complaint number beside the bed in case we had to make a call to shut it down, but I fell asleep without the niggling stress that I would CERTAINLY wake up if I heard any noise at all. The OCD exercises are starting to work. I didn't clench my teeth last night and have hardly any pain in my jaw today. Prayer has been a huge factor in getting a grip!
All being well, Penelope should be in surgery as I am writing this. I am hoping that it is a successful joint replacement. I know she will be disciplined about doing her physiotherapy afterward and I pray that she can concentrate on that while she awaits her biopsy results from the other, unrelated, surgical procedure she had last week. I am grateful she has a husband who can assist her at home and help with cooking and cleaning until she is able to do those tasks again herself. Lots to pray about!
Kat took a bad fall yesterday and hurt her wrist and knee. According to some onlookers it was a spectacular spill when her foot slipped off a curb as she was moving from a parking area to a sidewalk. She nearly concussed by hitting her head on a big steel waste bin, but landing on her wrist saved her head. I talked to her this morning and she is a bit stiff, but not in the amount of pain she thought she might be in. What a relief. WHEW! I am so grateful she didn't break her wrist. She said she slept okay last night, so that is good too. Maybe she will get a chance to rest and recover today.
We have decided we are going to change our strategy for the next time we go out for Chinese food with the Sunday church group: we HAVE to stop eating what they usually order as it has far too many carbs in the form of deep fried batters and sweet sauces. If we bow out of the group order and just order a plate of tofu for my husband and a plate of chicken with mixed vegetables for myself and pay our bills separately from the group we can save some money along with our health and still enjoy the fellowship. We will be royally razzed by the rest of them, but it will be a good source for some new jokes and teasing, so that is not a bad thing.
We have eaten lightly today to make up for the feasting after church yesterday and tonight I am making a simple tuna salad for dinner. I was doing very well on my weight loss diet until this past week when I gave in to far too many temptations. I don't want to lose the bit of ground I gained previously on this diet. I feel good about continuing and I am pleased that even that less than a full week with some dietary cheats made me feel badly enough to be eager to get back on track.
The weather is glorious once again today...it is overcast but just a degree below zero and barely a breeze. I LOVE this weather! Long may it last!
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Your Prayers Were Effective, Thank You!
I am grateful for a much better sleep last night. Although I woke up at the trigger times of 2:30am and 4:30am, when the bashing about next door most often seems to take place, I wasn’t awake long either time and I concentrated on not hearing anything or anyone. Although my jaw is a bit sore this morning from clenching it, I feel awake and happy and ready to enjoy the day. Thanks so much to all you prayer partners.
Please remember Penelope tomorrow. At this point she is still scheduled for joint replacement surgery. She is trusting no new complication will arise over the weekend, such as coming down with a cold or influenza, to delay the surgery. She has a lot going on in her life that is stressful, along with the wait for her biopsy results about a week post-replacement surgery. Please pray she can have inner peace.
My husband is struggling to wake up this morning. His busyness from last week is finally catching up with him. I suspect we will be driving to church this morning rather than walking, to give him a bit more shut eye.
Please remember Penelope tomorrow. At this point she is still scheduled for joint replacement surgery. She is trusting no new complication will arise over the weekend, such as coming down with a cold or influenza, to delay the surgery. She has a lot going on in her life that is stressful, along with the wait for her biopsy results about a week post-replacement surgery. Please pray she can have inner peace.
My husband is struggling to wake up this morning. His busyness from last week is finally catching up with him. I suspect we will be driving to church this morning rather than walking, to give him a bit more shut eye.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Enjoying Our Son's Life As Much As Or More Than Our Own! hahaha
This morning our son flew from NYC across the country to Berkeley California to see his girlfriend's theater company perform their latest production, visit with some friends there and then spend a couple of days seeing the sights of the area with his girlfriend before they fly home next week. The company has put everyone up in a lovely hotel there. I am sure they got a decent rate per night because there are so many of them booked in, but my goodness....the regular cost of a room per night is more than I pay for groceries in a month! Our son is having a WONDERFUL time staying there, hahaha. Tonight he is reading both Agamben's philosophy and St. Francis of Assisi and his views on holy poverty. His girlfriend is too busy to be reading this week!
These two have been quite the travelling duo of late. Over the past less than three months SHE has travelled from NYC to Wyoming to NYC to the Hamptons to NYC to Toronto to NYC to California. HE has travelled from NYC to Philadelphia to NYC to Regina to Toronto to Calgary to Edmonton to Calgary to Vancouver to NYC to California. They are keeping the airlines in business, that is for certain!
Oh to be young and blessed with the ability to travel so much! The weather is so warm and wonderful in California compared to the east coast and that is something our son has missed since he moved from the west coast to the east coast of the USA three years ago.
We had our own blessing of warmth here on the prairies today! This afternoon my husband and I took a little walk to the grocery store in the PLUS THREE DEGREES CENTIGRADE weather!! For the third week of February that is excellent weather indeed! There wasn't a lot of ice to cross, but I am glad I took my spike ended cane as there were a couple of dicy spots to walk across where water was floating on top of the ice.
O how I enjoyed watching our newly hooked up Nature channel today! Spending time watching animal documentaries was my reward for spending a great deal of the morning washing the dishes from the family dinner last evening. I could become addicted to that channel if I am not careful! haha I am learning just how many people around the world are dedicating their lives to rescuing orphaned, injured, nearly extinct and abandoned animals around the world. It is most encouraging. If my animal allergies had ever disappeared that is the sort of work I would be doing. It was always my dream, but some dreams are just that. At least I can send a few donations to some of the animal rescue organizations. There are so many now that focus on rescuing baby animals and preparing them for reintroduction into their natural habitat. So interesting.
Church again tomorrow....where has this week disappeared to??? Sundays are a favourite day once again. How I am enjoying the worship and fellowship. Tomorrow's bonus is that my husband is free to come with me. YAY!
Monday afternoon the property management company is sending in their team of pest control agents to seal the kitchen wall between our place and the neighbours' next door. The mice seem to be coming in around our shared plumbing stack. It sounds like quite a procedure. I can only hope they are able to do this work more effectively and correctly than so many of their other maintenance duties. hahaha We may regret not just dealing with it ourselves, but we will maintain hope that this will be a good thing! hohoho!! They cannot do any worse than the so called pest control company they used to deal with....the most useless bunch on the planet, so our own guys have to be better than that, right?
This is a crazy week. We have commitments every single day, most days two commitments. My husband is going to utilize Monday to complete his March 1 sermon so that he can have the energy to accomplish all the other commitments of the week! They are all happy ones, but a lot of energy will be expended as there are so many people involved in the various meetings and activities. Praying it isn't too much for him to cope with. While he is 90% better than he was a year ago, he still needs to watch how much energy he has to use each day. As for me, I am REALLY EXCITED about the week!
Have a blessed week upcoming everyone and thank you very much to those who indicated they are willing (again....sigh) to pray for my sleep disorder. I realize now that one of the hassles last night was that my closed bedroom door had popped open at some point so that allowed the full impact of whatever booming was going on next door to hit me. I will make certain it is shut tight tonight!
These two have been quite the travelling duo of late. Over the past less than three months SHE has travelled from NYC to Wyoming to NYC to the Hamptons to NYC to Toronto to NYC to California. HE has travelled from NYC to Philadelphia to NYC to Regina to Toronto to Calgary to Edmonton to Calgary to Vancouver to NYC to California. They are keeping the airlines in business, that is for certain!
Oh to be young and blessed with the ability to travel so much! The weather is so warm and wonderful in California compared to the east coast and that is something our son has missed since he moved from the west coast to the east coast of the USA three years ago.
We had our own blessing of warmth here on the prairies today! This afternoon my husband and I took a little walk to the grocery store in the PLUS THREE DEGREES CENTIGRADE weather!! For the third week of February that is excellent weather indeed! There wasn't a lot of ice to cross, but I am glad I took my spike ended cane as there were a couple of dicy spots to walk across where water was floating on top of the ice.
O how I enjoyed watching our newly hooked up Nature channel today! Spending time watching animal documentaries was my reward for spending a great deal of the morning washing the dishes from the family dinner last evening. I could become addicted to that channel if I am not careful! haha I am learning just how many people around the world are dedicating their lives to rescuing orphaned, injured, nearly extinct and abandoned animals around the world. It is most encouraging. If my animal allergies had ever disappeared that is the sort of work I would be doing. It was always my dream, but some dreams are just that. At least I can send a few donations to some of the animal rescue organizations. There are so many now that focus on rescuing baby animals and preparing them for reintroduction into their natural habitat. So interesting.
Church again tomorrow....where has this week disappeared to??? Sundays are a favourite day once again. How I am enjoying the worship and fellowship. Tomorrow's bonus is that my husband is free to come with me. YAY!
Monday afternoon the property management company is sending in their team of pest control agents to seal the kitchen wall between our place and the neighbours' next door. The mice seem to be coming in around our shared plumbing stack. It sounds like quite a procedure. I can only hope they are able to do this work more effectively and correctly than so many of their other maintenance duties. hahaha We may regret not just dealing with it ourselves, but we will maintain hope that this will be a good thing! hohoho!! They cannot do any worse than the so called pest control company they used to deal with....the most useless bunch on the planet, so our own guys have to be better than that, right?
This is a crazy week. We have commitments every single day, most days two commitments. My husband is going to utilize Monday to complete his March 1 sermon so that he can have the energy to accomplish all the other commitments of the week! They are all happy ones, but a lot of energy will be expended as there are so many people involved in the various meetings and activities. Praying it isn't too much for him to cope with. While he is 90% better than he was a year ago, he still needs to watch how much energy he has to use each day. As for me, I am REALLY EXCITED about the week!
Have a blessed week upcoming everyone and thank you very much to those who indicated they are willing (again....sigh) to pray for my sleep disorder. I realize now that one of the hassles last night was that my closed bedroom door had popped open at some point so that allowed the full impact of whatever booming was going on next door to hit me. I will make certain it is shut tight tonight!
Losing My Mind
It is 6am. I managed to get four consecutive hours of sleep before random bashing about by the neighbours on the other side of the wall woke me up. The noise wasn’t going on all night, it was really only three mighty crashes coming from their stairwell that woke me. I just got used to the daily noises of the family of four, apparently relatives of the actual tenant, who were there over the past eight days, when they with their duffel bags and the tenant with hers drove away yesterday afternoon. They have been replaced by a returning young fellow carrying his own duffel bag back into the suite, planning to stay awhile once again I guess. I will give the young fellow credit: between 5pm and midnight he had a steady stream of visitors arriving and staying for a few hours, but there was very little noise. In fact, if it wasn’t for my life long inability to sleep deeply through noise of any kind, there would be little problem for me with the new neighbours.
How I envy my husband as he sleeps peacefully through most any noise, while I, earplugs crammed into both ears, bedroom door and window tightly shut, hear every passing car, every voice out on the street, every bang and nighttime voice on the other side of the wall.
I am so tired I feel nauseous. Thankfully I don’t have any commitments outside my home today, so if I need a nap I can have it at any time. I need to iron a few articles of clothing and wash the rest of the dishes I put in the sink to soak after a marvellous turkey dinner my husband prepared last night.
We had dinner with some young cousins of his, delicious food, great conversation and lots of laughs. What a nice evening.
My husband was in his element boiling peas and potatoes, roasting squash and yams, ladling big scoops of turkey dressing into a bowl, carving the turkey, making tea....hahaha. It was fantastic to see him feeling well enough to enjoy a role as “founder of the feast”. He cooked the main meal, I made the dessert and am doing the cleanup, although he helped with that as well.
It was such a good evening catching up on family news, feasting on healthy, tasty foods, falling into bed exhausted.....then waking up four hours later unable to get back to sleep despite the ensuing quiet after those three big bangs. It is so frustrating. I still remember being a little kid and having this same problem. Whether or not the problem developed as a result of the fight or flight mentality our family had to maintain in those days due to “issues” in our sketchy neighbourhood, I have been plagued by noise related sleeplessness my whole life.
Guess it is time to immerse myself in intercession to God on my own behalf. Sleeplessness is debilitating mentally and emotionally and I need to get serious about dealing with this issue.
How I envy my husband as he sleeps peacefully through most any noise, while I, earplugs crammed into both ears, bedroom door and window tightly shut, hear every passing car, every voice out on the street, every bang and nighttime voice on the other side of the wall.
I am so tired I feel nauseous. Thankfully I don’t have any commitments outside my home today, so if I need a nap I can have it at any time. I need to iron a few articles of clothing and wash the rest of the dishes I put in the sink to soak after a marvellous turkey dinner my husband prepared last night.
We had dinner with some young cousins of his, delicious food, great conversation and lots of laughs. What a nice evening.
My husband was in his element boiling peas and potatoes, roasting squash and yams, ladling big scoops of turkey dressing into a bowl, carving the turkey, making tea....hahaha. It was fantastic to see him feeling well enough to enjoy a role as “founder of the feast”. He cooked the main meal, I made the dessert and am doing the cleanup, although he helped with that as well.
It was such a good evening catching up on family news, feasting on healthy, tasty foods, falling into bed exhausted.....then waking up four hours later unable to get back to sleep despite the ensuing quiet after those three big bangs. It is so frustrating. I still remember being a little kid and having this same problem. Whether or not the problem developed as a result of the fight or flight mentality our family had to maintain in those days due to “issues” in our sketchy neighbourhood, I have been plagued by noise related sleeplessness my whole life.
Guess it is time to immerse myself in intercession to God on my own behalf. Sleeplessness is debilitating mentally and emotionally and I need to get serious about dealing with this issue.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Back To the Old Grind!
It has been a good day! The outside temperature was -23C when we woke up this morning and by this afternoon it was +3C and the sun was shining brightly. YES!!! We have several more lovely days to come!
We frittered away the morning, after a late start, watching the Nova tv series episode on cats. It was interesting enough but I find many of the Nova programmes contain information based on some questionable presuppositions and much of what I would like to find out about whatever the subject happens to be is left out. Nevertheless we find it interesting and the episodes on cats, dogs and the weather and eco systems at the north and south poles were very enjoyable.
My appointment at the oral surgeon went well today. Hopefully that is the last time we will have to meet. He confirmed that many types of oral cysts can be formed due to recurring saliva gland infections, but not my type of cyst in particular. It is apparently a rare sort and no one knows why this type forms. While it is unlikely to recur, it could. At least if it does I will be better able to discern the problem before I have it for as long as I had this last one. He listened well to my questions in regard to my ongoing and worsening pain and discomfort. After a lot of prodding and poking and manipulating my jaw and neck, he announced that my problem is a return to grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw when I am sleeping at night. I told him I have been under so much stress since last summer that I have caught myself doing both things in the middle of the day sometimes! SO, I must go and look for my old mouth guard, but it has been so many years that I suspect it has long since been disposed of during one of my closet purges. It wasn't that great and I suppose I should be fitted with a new one soon. I will see what I can accomplish using techniques I used many years ago that proved as effective (and far less expensive) than getting a mouth guard. Good to know what the issue really is and there are some things now I am going to force myself to relax about.
After my appointment we did some banking, made some changes to our television programming packages to reduce the cost of our communications bill and took in many bags of recycleable bottles and cans. We did very well with that venture, took ourselves out for a salad lunch and have the rest to use for groceries until next week. YAY!!! Spending half the day away from home, enjoying the sunny, warm day while accomplishing some things for ourselves was most therapeutic for us both.
In other news: please continue to pray for Penelope. She assumed she was having a needle biopsy yesterday, but it was more like minor surgery. She was in a lot of pain and discomfort for the rest of the day and overnight. She is still going to her pre-op appointments prior to her still scheduled joint replacement surgery next week, but she needs to have the results of that biopsy STAT so the orthopedic surgeon wiill know if he can still do the replacement surgery or have to wait while Penelope undergoes cancer surgery and treatments. On the one hand it is good to know that cancer surgery trumps joint replacement, but on the other hand it is discouraging to know she could be even more immobilized by not having the replacement yet, on top of the stress of cancer surgery and treatments. What a load for her. She has been my friend for many years and more faithful friend and true it would be difficult to find.
Mom called tonight. She has had a wonderful last few days and so has Dad. It was a most encouraging call. No new crises have arisen for either of them, and they were able to attend the choir concert at Dad's facility a couple of days ago. He was so very happy to get out and do something with her. I am delighted. They both enjoyed themselves immensely. Now that Mom is feeling better she is going to pay closer attention to the upcoming events at Dad's facility and go over to take him to any that he would enjoy. She has done a few things herself at her own facility this week and quite enjoyed them. There are some more activities coming up for her next week. Dad had physiotherapy this morning and two visitors this afternoon, so it was a tiring but wonderful day for him.
The long term partner of one of my older cousins passed away this morning. He has been ailing for some time and was in his 90's, so for him it was likely a blessing. My cousin will be very sad and I suspect a bit lost without him. This getting old crap isn't for sissys!
Looking forward to another nice day tomorrow. I need to run some quick errands in the morning, then my husband and I will prepare a turkey dinner for some of his young cousins who are coming over to spend the evening. It will be fun! Saturday we have NO committments at all at this point. We are really looking forward to living our Saturday moment by moment as we have few days like that. My husband doesn't have to preach and preside at his own parish this Sunday, so he will come to my church. He is excited that our class on Job will be discussing God's response to Job, his favourite part of the whole book.
We have gone one day now without catching any more mice, so if we can go three more days mouse-free it should be safe to return the cleaning supplies and other under the sink items to their rightful place so I have more room to move in our teeny tiny kitchen!
Okay, I am going to do more to protect myself against late night neighbour noise by putting in my ear plugs and shutting the bedroom door tonight, then do the mental preparation and say the prayers I need to help myself relax before attempting to sleep! Here's hoping......
We frittered away the morning, after a late start, watching the Nova tv series episode on cats. It was interesting enough but I find many of the Nova programmes contain information based on some questionable presuppositions and much of what I would like to find out about whatever the subject happens to be is left out. Nevertheless we find it interesting and the episodes on cats, dogs and the weather and eco systems at the north and south poles were very enjoyable.
My appointment at the oral surgeon went well today. Hopefully that is the last time we will have to meet. He confirmed that many types of oral cysts can be formed due to recurring saliva gland infections, but not my type of cyst in particular. It is apparently a rare sort and no one knows why this type forms. While it is unlikely to recur, it could. At least if it does I will be better able to discern the problem before I have it for as long as I had this last one. He listened well to my questions in regard to my ongoing and worsening pain and discomfort. After a lot of prodding and poking and manipulating my jaw and neck, he announced that my problem is a return to grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw when I am sleeping at night. I told him I have been under so much stress since last summer that I have caught myself doing both things in the middle of the day sometimes! SO, I must go and look for my old mouth guard, but it has been so many years that I suspect it has long since been disposed of during one of my closet purges. It wasn't that great and I suppose I should be fitted with a new one soon. I will see what I can accomplish using techniques I used many years ago that proved as effective (and far less expensive) than getting a mouth guard. Good to know what the issue really is and there are some things now I am going to force myself to relax about.
After my appointment we did some banking, made some changes to our television programming packages to reduce the cost of our communications bill and took in many bags of recycleable bottles and cans. We did very well with that venture, took ourselves out for a salad lunch and have the rest to use for groceries until next week. YAY!!! Spending half the day away from home, enjoying the sunny, warm day while accomplishing some things for ourselves was most therapeutic for us both.
In other news: please continue to pray for Penelope. She assumed she was having a needle biopsy yesterday, but it was more like minor surgery. She was in a lot of pain and discomfort for the rest of the day and overnight. She is still going to her pre-op appointments prior to her still scheduled joint replacement surgery next week, but she needs to have the results of that biopsy STAT so the orthopedic surgeon wiill know if he can still do the replacement surgery or have to wait while Penelope undergoes cancer surgery and treatments. On the one hand it is good to know that cancer surgery trumps joint replacement, but on the other hand it is discouraging to know she could be even more immobilized by not having the replacement yet, on top of the stress of cancer surgery and treatments. What a load for her. She has been my friend for many years and more faithful friend and true it would be difficult to find.
Mom called tonight. She has had a wonderful last few days and so has Dad. It was a most encouraging call. No new crises have arisen for either of them, and they were able to attend the choir concert at Dad's facility a couple of days ago. He was so very happy to get out and do something with her. I am delighted. They both enjoyed themselves immensely. Now that Mom is feeling better she is going to pay closer attention to the upcoming events at Dad's facility and go over to take him to any that he would enjoy. She has done a few things herself at her own facility this week and quite enjoyed them. There are some more activities coming up for her next week. Dad had physiotherapy this morning and two visitors this afternoon, so it was a tiring but wonderful day for him.
The long term partner of one of my older cousins passed away this morning. He has been ailing for some time and was in his 90's, so for him it was likely a blessing. My cousin will be very sad and I suspect a bit lost without him. This getting old crap isn't for sissys!
Looking forward to another nice day tomorrow. I need to run some quick errands in the morning, then my husband and I will prepare a turkey dinner for some of his young cousins who are coming over to spend the evening. It will be fun! Saturday we have NO committments at all at this point. We are really looking forward to living our Saturday moment by moment as we have few days like that. My husband doesn't have to preach and preside at his own parish this Sunday, so he will come to my church. He is excited that our class on Job will be discussing God's response to Job, his favourite part of the whole book.
We have gone one day now without catching any more mice, so if we can go three more days mouse-free it should be safe to return the cleaning supplies and other under the sink items to their rightful place so I have more room to move in our teeny tiny kitchen!
Okay, I am going to do more to protect myself against late night neighbour noise by putting in my ear plugs and shutting the bedroom door tonight, then do the mental preparation and say the prayers I need to help myself relax before attempting to sleep! Here's hoping......
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
So, He Has Agreed To Pray Seriously About It At Least. Yay!
The continuing “livestock” issues, lack of insulation in our suite, the cost of living here and now having incredibly noisy neighbours during the wee hours of too many mornings has convinced my husband that we need to be in serious prayer before the Lord about finding a different living accommodation. This is progress! Whether or not we end up moving in the spring, we are moving forward on the prayer and research aspects of this conundrum. He is even willing to find a way to pay double rent for our last month here/first month in a new place to give us a full 30 days to get rid of what must be gotten rid of and do most of our own transportation of what we can keep. Double rent for a month will be a bit less expensive and far less stressful than hiring professional movers or fighting with truck rental companies to get a truck on time on the right day.
So, who knows what will happen, but for now we are on the same page about prayers and research. If it seems better that we stay here then I am willing to try to tackle it for one more year.
Progress indeed; for both of us.
So, who knows what will happen, but for now we are on the same page about prayers and research. If it seems better that we stay here then I am willing to try to tackle it for one more year.
Progress indeed; for both of us.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Will It Ever End??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Welllllll....this morning when I went downstairs to make my breakfast, I opened the cupboard door under the sink to pull out the garbage bin for emptying and lo and behold, there behind the bin, staring me full in the face, steel wool bits covering his head and whiskers, was a mouse! I don't know who was the most startled and stunned, the mousie or myself??? hahaha It must have been a full second before either of us reacted. I shrieked and he flew off behind the box of cleaning supplies. Before I slammed the cupboard door, I saw a huge wad of tightly packed steel wool sitting on the cupboard floor. By the look of things, the little turkey has been pushing the steel wool with his head out through the holes to gain access to the cupboard. Wily, sneaky and extremely intelligent when it comes to getting into places he wants to go, this mouse. (I am using the universal "He" here, as I am not able to tell by a simple frightened glance if our friend is male or female, so don't anyone have a fit about my using a male description of the mouse, okay? Take a valium and calm down! I refuse to call any living creature "it".)
My poor husband....once again trapped in the kitchen helping me with mouse control. This time he was racing about trying to get to his weekly early morning lections meeting. In the five minutes he had available before he absolutely had to leave, he managed to set our last two traps. He put one inside the cupboard with a tempting piece of cheddar cheese sitting on the spring and the other he put back under the dishwasher after he opened that space and found a dead mouse in the first trap we set under there yesterday morning. Aaaaargh....the problem is that moving away to be free of a mouse infestation is not necessarily going to be effective as the whole city is overrun with mice this winter. So many friends, even those in classier neighbourhoods, living in beautiful homes, are finding mice this winter. Eeek!!
In other news, I was able to get to the bank, the hardware store for more traps and the big Superstore and home with my groceries, arriving back before 9:30am! What a great feeling to have my chores done in time to do some more mouse hunting and eat my lunch before prayer meeting this afternoon. The latest mouse offender at our hostess' house has finally been caught, so perhaps we can sit with our feet on the floor this time instead of hugging our knees up under our chins and tucking our toes up on the couch cushions.
Aaaaah....what would life be if I wasn't chasing mice, shooing geese, shovelling goose and rabbit poop off the outside of the property and sweeping up and bleaching mouse poop areas inside the property? It's a laugh a minute around here and we are never bored! The local livestock keep us hopping!
My poor husband....once again trapped in the kitchen helping me with mouse control. This time he was racing about trying to get to his weekly early morning lections meeting. In the five minutes he had available before he absolutely had to leave, he managed to set our last two traps. He put one inside the cupboard with a tempting piece of cheddar cheese sitting on the spring and the other he put back under the dishwasher after he opened that space and found a dead mouse in the first trap we set under there yesterday morning. Aaaaargh....the problem is that moving away to be free of a mouse infestation is not necessarily going to be effective as the whole city is overrun with mice this winter. So many friends, even those in classier neighbourhoods, living in beautiful homes, are finding mice this winter. Eeek!!
In other news, I was able to get to the bank, the hardware store for more traps and the big Superstore and home with my groceries, arriving back before 9:30am! What a great feeling to have my chores done in time to do some more mouse hunting and eat my lunch before prayer meeting this afternoon. The latest mouse offender at our hostess' house has finally been caught, so perhaps we can sit with our feet on the floor this time instead of hugging our knees up under our chins and tucking our toes up on the couch cushions.
Aaaaah....what would life be if I wasn't chasing mice, shooing geese, shovelling goose and rabbit poop off the outside of the property and sweeping up and bleaching mouse poop areas inside the property? It's a laugh a minute around here and we are never bored! The local livestock keep us hopping!
Well....That Didn’t Go As Planned!
Yesterday we both had the chance to sleep in a bit and so we did, but the rest of the day wasn’t quite the lazy day of rest my husband had anticipated, haha.
I woke up so relaxed and cheerful. Then I went downstairs to make my breakfast. I opened the cupboard under the kitchen sink to access the garbage bin and there on the cupboard floor was evidence, once again, of the presence of a mouse. Sigh..... I forced myself to eat breakfast first, then donned a pair of rubber gloves and paint sprayer mask, grabbed the cleaning supplies and went to work cleaning up the mess. There was far less mess than the last time, thank goodness. Mousy had not gotten into the nice new, sturdy box where the bleach and rags are kept. He hadn’t infiltrated any of the drawers beside the sink this time. Nothing had to be disposed of, thank goodness.
When my husband awoke he examined the sides and back of the cupboard once again. He hadn’t missed stuffing steel wool into any of the cracks and holes under there when he worked so hard last week on the project, but he hadn’t stuffed one of the tiniest holes behind the plumbing pipes quite tightly enough. He could see a narrow furrow where the mouse had squeezed himself through the steel wool. Wily little fellow, this mouse.
So, being out of steel wool, he stuffed the hole tighter with tinfoil and caulked it all in place. He removed the bottom panel of the dishwasher and discovered much evidence of the mouse’s presence, so now there are two traps and a dish of mouse poison under there. He will check under there each day. There are traps and poison now in the basement and more in the attic. Hopefully they will be successful at ridding us of the wee pest. Killing little animals like mice is upsetting to us both, but in this building there is no choice. Unfortunately the infestation can get out of control very quickly, which we learned the hard way the first year we lived in here and were less vigilant.
That is how we spent our “relaxed and lazy” morning! My poor tired husband.
An afternoon nap restored his energy. He confessed to being discouraged that other priorities of late derailed his basement cleaning project, so after the nap he went downstairs and got working on it once again. He spent a couple of hours down there sorting out, packing away and throwing out all manner of things. (The throwing out part of his project made me the happiest, haha) Then he decided it was time to cut his hair and trim his beard. By the end of the afternoon he was cheery, looking spruced up and was proud of himself for accomplishing so much on what was supposed to have been a slothful day.
As for me, apart from bleaching the kitchen, slothfulness WAS the order of the day! However, today will be different. As soon as my husband leaves for his early morning meeting I will get ready to brave the -25C and go out to do a major grocery shopping trip. How did we manage to run out of so many items all at the same time????
Last night I had the most positive phone conversation with mom that I have had in weeks. She is starting to adjust a bit better to life on her own, has had no new crises to deal with for over a week now and is socializing more in her complex. The guilt she was putting on herself about having to move Dad to long term care is ebbing finally. Her niece sent her a most unexpected gift that cheered her greatly. What a lovely thing to do! Mom is thrilled. We had a little crying time together over the thoughtfulness of the gift...tears of joy for a change. We are both beginning to accept the fact that there is nothing more we can do to help Dad accept the misery his life has become, other than continuing to pray that somehow he can find peace about his circumstances. It is so difficult to see him in this condition. Today though, a younger choir director friend of his is bringing her choir to Dad’s facility to do a concert. She is picking Mom up on her way over and Mom will wheel Dad down to the common room to hear them. He is excited about it, the most excited he has been about anything in weeks. He had a cheery visitor yesterday and on the weekend he and Mom each had long phone calls from their grandson. I will call him tomorrow and he can tell me about today’s concert.
My friend Penelope is in need of some healing prayer. Next week she is having long awaited joint replacement surgery, but if that is not stressful enough, she has now been told her recent mammogram has found "something", so later this week will be having a biopsy. Sigh.... I am requesting prayer for her to be able to cope with so much medical stress happening all at once. She should be through the actual replacement surgery by the time her biopsy results come in, but then what is she going to have to deal with while in recovery from the surgery? So many burdens all at once. Thank you so much for praying for her. She will appreciate it very much.
Wellllllllll.....the alarm clock should be ringing in about an hour's time, so perhaps I will attempt to get some more sleep before a busy day in the cold weather begins. I have been sleeping so well lately, but for some reason the "magic" didn't happen last night. That bodes well though for better sleeps the rest of this week. Prayer meeting for me is this afternoon and that is always a relaxing and happy time. It will de-stress me after a morning of the dreaded grocery shopping, haha.
I woke up so relaxed and cheerful. Then I went downstairs to make my breakfast. I opened the cupboard under the kitchen sink to access the garbage bin and there on the cupboard floor was evidence, once again, of the presence of a mouse. Sigh..... I forced myself to eat breakfast first, then donned a pair of rubber gloves and paint sprayer mask, grabbed the cleaning supplies and went to work cleaning up the mess. There was far less mess than the last time, thank goodness. Mousy had not gotten into the nice new, sturdy box where the bleach and rags are kept. He hadn’t infiltrated any of the drawers beside the sink this time. Nothing had to be disposed of, thank goodness.
When my husband awoke he examined the sides and back of the cupboard once again. He hadn’t missed stuffing steel wool into any of the cracks and holes under there when he worked so hard last week on the project, but he hadn’t stuffed one of the tiniest holes behind the plumbing pipes quite tightly enough. He could see a narrow furrow where the mouse had squeezed himself through the steel wool. Wily little fellow, this mouse.
So, being out of steel wool, he stuffed the hole tighter with tinfoil and caulked it all in place. He removed the bottom panel of the dishwasher and discovered much evidence of the mouse’s presence, so now there are two traps and a dish of mouse poison under there. He will check under there each day. There are traps and poison now in the basement and more in the attic. Hopefully they will be successful at ridding us of the wee pest. Killing little animals like mice is upsetting to us both, but in this building there is no choice. Unfortunately the infestation can get out of control very quickly, which we learned the hard way the first year we lived in here and were less vigilant.
That is how we spent our “relaxed and lazy” morning! My poor tired husband.
An afternoon nap restored his energy. He confessed to being discouraged that other priorities of late derailed his basement cleaning project, so after the nap he went downstairs and got working on it once again. He spent a couple of hours down there sorting out, packing away and throwing out all manner of things. (The throwing out part of his project made me the happiest, haha) Then he decided it was time to cut his hair and trim his beard. By the end of the afternoon he was cheery, looking spruced up and was proud of himself for accomplishing so much on what was supposed to have been a slothful day.
As for me, apart from bleaching the kitchen, slothfulness WAS the order of the day! However, today will be different. As soon as my husband leaves for his early morning meeting I will get ready to brave the -25C and go out to do a major grocery shopping trip. How did we manage to run out of so many items all at the same time????
Last night I had the most positive phone conversation with mom that I have had in weeks. She is starting to adjust a bit better to life on her own, has had no new crises to deal with for over a week now and is socializing more in her complex. The guilt she was putting on herself about having to move Dad to long term care is ebbing finally. Her niece sent her a most unexpected gift that cheered her greatly. What a lovely thing to do! Mom is thrilled. We had a little crying time together over the thoughtfulness of the gift...tears of joy for a change. We are both beginning to accept the fact that there is nothing more we can do to help Dad accept the misery his life has become, other than continuing to pray that somehow he can find peace about his circumstances. It is so difficult to see him in this condition. Today though, a younger choir director friend of his is bringing her choir to Dad’s facility to do a concert. She is picking Mom up on her way over and Mom will wheel Dad down to the common room to hear them. He is excited about it, the most excited he has been about anything in weeks. He had a cheery visitor yesterday and on the weekend he and Mom each had long phone calls from their grandson. I will call him tomorrow and he can tell me about today’s concert.
My friend Penelope is in need of some healing prayer. Next week she is having long awaited joint replacement surgery, but if that is not stressful enough, she has now been told her recent mammogram has found "something", so later this week will be having a biopsy. Sigh.... I am requesting prayer for her to be able to cope with so much medical stress happening all at once. She should be through the actual replacement surgery by the time her biopsy results come in, but then what is she going to have to deal with while in recovery from the surgery? So many burdens all at once. Thank you so much for praying for her. She will appreciate it very much.
Wellllllllll.....the alarm clock should be ringing in about an hour's time, so perhaps I will attempt to get some more sleep before a busy day in the cold weather begins. I have been sleeping so well lately, but for some reason the "magic" didn't happen last night. That bodes well though for better sleeps the rest of this week. Prayer meeting for me is this afternoon and that is always a relaxing and happy time. It will de-stress me after a morning of the dreaded grocery shopping, haha.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Yee Haw Symphony!
Last evening was an interesting and fun time with my friend at the Regina Symphony Orchestra pops concert. hahahahaha
The special guests were Belle Plaine and her country and western band. What a hoot! Her patter between sets was very funny and I think she could have an impressive career in stand up! hahaha
The lady has a nice voice, but for the first half of the performance we couldn't hear most of the lyrics to her songs. She was completely drowned out by the orchestra behind her and her own equally capable musicians playing on each side of her centre stage position. Apparently we were not the only audience members questioning our ability to hear, so at intermission some of the guests who know who to talk to about these things convinced the sound people to increase the mic strength to Ms. Plaine and her lovely background singers, of who we could hear not a note!
As the second half began there was hope of change in the sound. We could hear more lyrics during the first number when her husband was singing with his guitar and not a lot of orchestral backup. When Ms. Plaine returned to the stage her first song was accompanied only by her own guitar and I realized the other reason we couldn't understand the lyrics. Despite being able to hear every word with the newly amp'd mics and the lack of orchestral accompaniment, Ms. Plaine sings with the elongated enunciation style common to many country singers and it didn't translate to us listeners in the large venue. Although we could finally hear every word, my friend and I and those seated around us still couldn't understand many of them. It was a shame because she does have a lovely, listenable voice.
So, a night at the country and western symphony....not exactly a howling success for me personally, but the stylings of pianist Jeremy Sauer, drummer Steve Leidel, guitarist Bryce Lewis and back up singer Chris Henderson, (the only one of the three backup singers any of us could actually hear at all), were worth hearing. The RSO played their scores very well too and perhaps in some cases it was just as well they were permitted to drown out some of the vocals....Ms. Plaine's husband's voice was not my favourite....no offense to the man. He does write some awesome country pop songs.
What a hoot of an evening! I am glad we went, actually!
Our Sunday class on the Book of Job went so well this morning. We wrapped up our discussion about the arguments of Job's three friends and his responses to them. Next week we will discuss in more detail his conversations with God once he realizes there is no point in continuing to listen to his friends with their trite answers and, in one case, false accusations against him. The sermon in the church service, as well as the special music, both continued in the theme of how we as Christians handle the times when we are suffering and cannot seem to see the hand of God at such times. I am learning so much that is encouraging and will be helpful next time I am having problems that seem overwhelming and never ending. So glad I have had the chance to be in this class.
My husband picked me up after his own service, which also went well apparently, and we went to DarBar for a meal that turned into more of an extended snack! I ate very little. In fact the combined total cost of my plate of Bhel Puri and tea masala came to six dollars! My husband ordered one of the platters, but brought half the food home for another meal tomorrow. When is the last time we ate out for under twenty dollars??? Our server said she noticed I have been trying all manner of new things from the menu and congratulated me on my sense of adventure. hahaha Thank you dear friend who provided treat money for the entire month of February....you know who you are and we are grateful to you. Our tummies thank you profusely!! hahaha My husband made a diakon curry yesterday and a chick pea curry, so we have great food for the next few days.
We stopped for a walk and a bit of a grocery shop on the way home, were barely in the door and the phone rang with an invitation to go to a friend's place for dinner tonight. FUN! I LOVE Sundays! We are having a fair amount of company into our home this coming week, so the chance to have a few meals today that I don't have to make is quite wonderful!
We watched my husband's cousin and her Alberta curling team win their second game today at the Scotties Tournament in Moose Jaw. It was a nice way to spend the time before we go out to eat dinner.
It is one beautiful, sunny day outside with no wind once again. No wonder I feel so good today. Tomorrow the temperature will drop once again for a couple of days, but then we will have perhaps 4 or 5 days of above zero daytime highs! Dangerous for me to be out in the slightly melted ice and snow with that slippery layer of melt water on top, but if I am careful I can have a good time running errands on those wonderfully warm "still winter" days. YAY!
As I suspected would happen, after three days now of little kids visiting next door, slamming into the walls and banging on the floors, I am used to it. I realized today that I am barely noticing it. My husband is nearly completely oblivious to the noise. So we are adjusting to the new neighbours and their new noises, finally. It will be interesting to see who is going in and out of there next week...will the same visiting family and their children be there all week because school is out for winter break, or will there be new visitors? Is our new tenant renting out her place as an Air B and B kind of space? Never have we met so many new folk spending time on the other side of the wall as we have in the past week! hahaha Lotsa fun. You never know what is going to happen around here, that is for sure. Maybe the challenge is actually good for me?
The special guests were Belle Plaine and her country and western band. What a hoot! Her patter between sets was very funny and I think she could have an impressive career in stand up! hahaha
The lady has a nice voice, but for the first half of the performance we couldn't hear most of the lyrics to her songs. She was completely drowned out by the orchestra behind her and her own equally capable musicians playing on each side of her centre stage position. Apparently we were not the only audience members questioning our ability to hear, so at intermission some of the guests who know who to talk to about these things convinced the sound people to increase the mic strength to Ms. Plaine and her lovely background singers, of who we could hear not a note!
As the second half began there was hope of change in the sound. We could hear more lyrics during the first number when her husband was singing with his guitar and not a lot of orchestral backup. When Ms. Plaine returned to the stage her first song was accompanied only by her own guitar and I realized the other reason we couldn't understand the lyrics. Despite being able to hear every word with the newly amp'd mics and the lack of orchestral accompaniment, Ms. Plaine sings with the elongated enunciation style common to many country singers and it didn't translate to us listeners in the large venue. Although we could finally hear every word, my friend and I and those seated around us still couldn't understand many of them. It was a shame because she does have a lovely, listenable voice.
So, a night at the country and western symphony....not exactly a howling success for me personally, but the stylings of pianist Jeremy Sauer, drummer Steve Leidel, guitarist Bryce Lewis and back up singer Chris Henderson, (the only one of the three backup singers any of us could actually hear at all), were worth hearing. The RSO played their scores very well too and perhaps in some cases it was just as well they were permitted to drown out some of the vocals....Ms. Plaine's husband's voice was not my favourite....no offense to the man. He does write some awesome country pop songs.
What a hoot of an evening! I am glad we went, actually!
Our Sunday class on the Book of Job went so well this morning. We wrapped up our discussion about the arguments of Job's three friends and his responses to them. Next week we will discuss in more detail his conversations with God once he realizes there is no point in continuing to listen to his friends with their trite answers and, in one case, false accusations against him. The sermon in the church service, as well as the special music, both continued in the theme of how we as Christians handle the times when we are suffering and cannot seem to see the hand of God at such times. I am learning so much that is encouraging and will be helpful next time I am having problems that seem overwhelming and never ending. So glad I have had the chance to be in this class.
My husband picked me up after his own service, which also went well apparently, and we went to DarBar for a meal that turned into more of an extended snack! I ate very little. In fact the combined total cost of my plate of Bhel Puri and tea masala came to six dollars! My husband ordered one of the platters, but brought half the food home for another meal tomorrow. When is the last time we ate out for under twenty dollars??? Our server said she noticed I have been trying all manner of new things from the menu and congratulated me on my sense of adventure. hahaha Thank you dear friend who provided treat money for the entire month of February....you know who you are and we are grateful to you. Our tummies thank you profusely!! hahaha My husband made a diakon curry yesterday and a chick pea curry, so we have great food for the next few days.
We stopped for a walk and a bit of a grocery shop on the way home, were barely in the door and the phone rang with an invitation to go to a friend's place for dinner tonight. FUN! I LOVE Sundays! We are having a fair amount of company into our home this coming week, so the chance to have a few meals today that I don't have to make is quite wonderful!
We watched my husband's cousin and her Alberta curling team win their second game today at the Scotties Tournament in Moose Jaw. It was a nice way to spend the time before we go out to eat dinner.
It is one beautiful, sunny day outside with no wind once again. No wonder I feel so good today. Tomorrow the temperature will drop once again for a couple of days, but then we will have perhaps 4 or 5 days of above zero daytime highs! Dangerous for me to be out in the slightly melted ice and snow with that slippery layer of melt water on top, but if I am careful I can have a good time running errands on those wonderfully warm "still winter" days. YAY!
As I suspected would happen, after three days now of little kids visiting next door, slamming into the walls and banging on the floors, I am used to it. I realized today that I am barely noticing it. My husband is nearly completely oblivious to the noise. So we are adjusting to the new neighbours and their new noises, finally. It will be interesting to see who is going in and out of there next week...will the same visiting family and their children be there all week because school is out for winter break, or will there be new visitors? Is our new tenant renting out her place as an Air B and B kind of space? Never have we met so many new folk spending time on the other side of the wall as we have in the past week! hahaha Lotsa fun. You never know what is going to happen around here, that is for sure. Maybe the challenge is actually good for me?
Friday, February 14, 2020
A Prayer Request From We To Ye
We have only three months left on our present lease for this rental unit. (Where did the time go?????) It seems like only a few weeks ago that we were deciding if we would be able to stay here for one more year and now that year is drawing all ready to a close. Unreal!!
I am tired of the slam banging that goes on all day and night when a variety of children arrive to stay with the new tenants next door...her kids? Her nephews and nieces? Her younger brothers and sisters? Random kids she babysits? Today the slamming each other around up and down the stairwells was between a couple of young teenaged boys and wow, they are hefty dudes. When they wrestle and toss each other onto the floor anywhere in that suite our floors and walls shake. It isn't completely unendurable, it is more annoying than anything and it isn't every day, but after the last 12 hours of slamming about with only short quiet periods for lunch and dinner, I am feeling less than happy about it. I keep telling myself that they are kids who have been confined inside all day as there is nowhere to play outside and these boys are obviously not video gamers. The WWE would be wise to check these guys out for future wrestling training. The first neighbours we had here were weight lifters who did most of their home training in the bedroom closest to the stairwell in our suite...they also did it very late at night, rarely completing their reps before 1am. The next set of tenants were great, but the little girl was a night owl and most of the noise from there came between 11pm and 12:30am as they ran around the suite with her trying to tire her out so she would sleep. In both those cases I got used to the night noise so there is hope I will adjust to the new night noises as well.
I am tired of having to walk on a skating rink all winter just to get to my car or out to the bus.
I am tired to the death of shovelling goose crap for 4-6 months of every year and I have no guarantee that the situation this coming spring and summer will be any better than the goosey debacle of 2019.
I am tired of having to tell my husband every few days that something else in the suite has broken down and then us having to decide if it is worth having the maintenance workers here fix it inadequately and then my husband having to re-fix it properly.
I am tired of plumbing leaks, the freezing basement with the heaving cement floor, the ancient appliances that soon not even my husband will be able to fix any more, although he did a great job yesterday on both a stove burner and the toilet tank works, the holes in the ancient carpeting, and the linoleum that was wrecked before we even moved in 5 years ago.
I am tired of paper thin walls, other peoples' drifting cigarette smoke, as well as their barking dogs who are equally tired of being chained to porches or of being home alone all day while their people are at work.
I am tired of the constant parade of mice and other "creatures" that these old buildings are infested with.
In other words, despite the wonderful location of this building in relationship to all that my husband and I do socially, practically and medically, I am ready to find a different accommodation when this lease expires.
My husband though is not at all ready. He dreads moving to the point where he flatly refuses to seriously consider it at this point. I have tried to discuss it with him several times this week and he continues to backpedal from the very idea of such a possibility. I suspect that he hasn't the mental energy yet to even want to think about it after a year of recovering from burn out and I do understand that. I can only imagine how much the idea of having to sort through all his collected "stuff" that is crammed into the basement is filling him with dread. It fills me with dread too because I know that no matter how well he tries to get rid of things, he will end up taking far more useless junk than he needs and we will be short of storage space again as the possibility of renting another place with a basement is miniscule in this town....unless we want to live in a much more dangerous area of the city than we do all ready. Perhaps his reluctance is God's way of telling me to suck it up for another year and we are not moving yet. I don't know. I just know that I am ready to start taking the pictures off the walls and packing up the china cabinets. I am ready to part with some of my nearest and dearest dishes and wall hangings if need be just to make it easier for us to downsize.
There is a distinct possibility that circumstances with the property management company will make the decision FOR us. We are all ready paying too high a percentage of our meagre income to live here and if our monthly rent credit is taken from us, if even a bit of it is taken from us, we will be forced to leave. I am hoping that will not happen because if my husband has refused to make any preparations prior to that bad news arriving, then moving WILL be a rush and a stress....for both of us.
I have begun doing some initial research in regard to possibilities for a move. There is a particular apartment building that very much appeals to me. Even though we would not have a basement or our own washer and dryer or a dishwasher, the drop in rent would be sufficient to make the move worthwhile; even with the extra monthly charge for a parking space and for the coin laundry and for a storage unit. I want to do more thorough research on this building and some others in this area to see if we would be able to downsize sufficiently and my husband still be able to survive. His books, by sheer quantity, are going to be a huge problem in any place smaller than this one. Sigh....yes, I understand his reluctance to even consider moving out of here. He is not being mean spirited, he is just realizing how difficult and costly a move is going to be and he is not sure he can handle it unless there turns out to be no other option.
So that is our prayer request: that God would make it abundantly clear if we are to move and that if we are to stay here, he would take care of some of the annoyances and concerns we will continue to have if we remain here for another year. Thank you............I am just unsure of how much time and energy to invest in seeking out alternate accommodation and with leases the timing is always tricky unless we are able to swing double rent for one month plus a damage deposit on a new place. So much to consider.....
I am tired of the slam banging that goes on all day and night when a variety of children arrive to stay with the new tenants next door...her kids? Her nephews and nieces? Her younger brothers and sisters? Random kids she babysits? Today the slamming each other around up and down the stairwells was between a couple of young teenaged boys and wow, they are hefty dudes. When they wrestle and toss each other onto the floor anywhere in that suite our floors and walls shake. It isn't completely unendurable, it is more annoying than anything and it isn't every day, but after the last 12 hours of slamming about with only short quiet periods for lunch and dinner, I am feeling less than happy about it. I keep telling myself that they are kids who have been confined inside all day as there is nowhere to play outside and these boys are obviously not video gamers. The WWE would be wise to check these guys out for future wrestling training. The first neighbours we had here were weight lifters who did most of their home training in the bedroom closest to the stairwell in our suite...they also did it very late at night, rarely completing their reps before 1am. The next set of tenants were great, but the little girl was a night owl and most of the noise from there came between 11pm and 12:30am as they ran around the suite with her trying to tire her out so she would sleep. In both those cases I got used to the night noise so there is hope I will adjust to the new night noises as well.
I am tired of having to walk on a skating rink all winter just to get to my car or out to the bus.
I am tired to the death of shovelling goose crap for 4-6 months of every year and I have no guarantee that the situation this coming spring and summer will be any better than the goosey debacle of 2019.
I am tired of having to tell my husband every few days that something else in the suite has broken down and then us having to decide if it is worth having the maintenance workers here fix it inadequately and then my husband having to re-fix it properly.
I am tired of plumbing leaks, the freezing basement with the heaving cement floor, the ancient appliances that soon not even my husband will be able to fix any more, although he did a great job yesterday on both a stove burner and the toilet tank works, the holes in the ancient carpeting, and the linoleum that was wrecked before we even moved in 5 years ago.
I am tired of paper thin walls, other peoples' drifting cigarette smoke, as well as their barking dogs who are equally tired of being chained to porches or of being home alone all day while their people are at work.
I am tired of the constant parade of mice and other "creatures" that these old buildings are infested with.
In other words, despite the wonderful location of this building in relationship to all that my husband and I do socially, practically and medically, I am ready to find a different accommodation when this lease expires.
My husband though is not at all ready. He dreads moving to the point where he flatly refuses to seriously consider it at this point. I have tried to discuss it with him several times this week and he continues to backpedal from the very idea of such a possibility. I suspect that he hasn't the mental energy yet to even want to think about it after a year of recovering from burn out and I do understand that. I can only imagine how much the idea of having to sort through all his collected "stuff" that is crammed into the basement is filling him with dread. It fills me with dread too because I know that no matter how well he tries to get rid of things, he will end up taking far more useless junk than he needs and we will be short of storage space again as the possibility of renting another place with a basement is miniscule in this town....unless we want to live in a much more dangerous area of the city than we do all ready. Perhaps his reluctance is God's way of telling me to suck it up for another year and we are not moving yet. I don't know. I just know that I am ready to start taking the pictures off the walls and packing up the china cabinets. I am ready to part with some of my nearest and dearest dishes and wall hangings if need be just to make it easier for us to downsize.
There is a distinct possibility that circumstances with the property management company will make the decision FOR us. We are all ready paying too high a percentage of our meagre income to live here and if our monthly rent credit is taken from us, if even a bit of it is taken from us, we will be forced to leave. I am hoping that will not happen because if my husband has refused to make any preparations prior to that bad news arriving, then moving WILL be a rush and a stress....for both of us.
I have begun doing some initial research in regard to possibilities for a move. There is a particular apartment building that very much appeals to me. Even though we would not have a basement or our own washer and dryer or a dishwasher, the drop in rent would be sufficient to make the move worthwhile; even with the extra monthly charge for a parking space and for the coin laundry and for a storage unit. I want to do more thorough research on this building and some others in this area to see if we would be able to downsize sufficiently and my husband still be able to survive. His books, by sheer quantity, are going to be a huge problem in any place smaller than this one. Sigh....yes, I understand his reluctance to even consider moving out of here. He is not being mean spirited, he is just realizing how difficult and costly a move is going to be and he is not sure he can handle it unless there turns out to be no other option.
So that is our prayer request: that God would make it abundantly clear if we are to move and that if we are to stay here, he would take care of some of the annoyances and concerns we will continue to have if we remain here for another year. Thank you............I am just unsure of how much time and energy to invest in seeking out alternate accommodation and with leases the timing is always tricky unless we are able to swing double rent for one month plus a damage deposit on a new place. So much to consider.....
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Finis...and Happy (Almost) Valentines Day
'Tis time for another Hallmark Greeting Card sales day! Tomorrow is Valentines Day, the most uncelebrated "special" day in our household, however, we decided that since I haven't been outside the house in two days it was time for a break away and why not call it an early Valentines Day celebration, right?
I love my dear husband who made the decision that I deserved a break out of the house tonight. Since tomorrow is the Friday night of a long weekend, all the restaurants will be crammed even more full than usual with husbands taking their wives out for the annual February Duty Dinner. Tonight seemed the perfect night for our own little non-celebration, so off we went to DarBar. (We ordered four different dishes and masala tea from the more expensive evening menu and our food bill plus taxes still came to only $38!)
We decided to try a couple of appetizers we haven't had before and wow, we made some great choices! I had a bowl of mulligatawny soup and it was fantabulous! This particular style is made with pureed vegetables, then some long grain rice is added, not too much, along with a small pat of butter and a wedge of lemon and sprinkling of cilantro floating on top of the bowl. It was unbelievably delicious. My husband ordered Bhel Puri, an delicious chaat snack made from a combination of puffed rice, peanuts, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, coriander, chilis, papdi (gram flour wafers) and sev (deep fried gram flour strings), then lightly covered with lime juice and a coriander chutney. SOOOOO GOOOD!! My husband ordered lamb rogan josh for his main dish, along with plain naan and I ordered chicken naan to have with my soup, but the waiter is so used to me ordering chicken samosas that that is what I got. hahahaha No matter.....also delicious of course with the extra salad and teeny bowl of chick peas in ground onion sauce that always accompanies the samosas. No complaints from me! My tea masala was particularly good tonight and the waiter remembered that I like the milk added immediately, but I want my sugar substitute on the side. How sweet is that, right? My husband told me over dinner how much he loves me and we had a good talk about all the reasons our marriage has survived this long...coming up to 43 years in a few weeks' time. It was a relaxed, fun evening together. It felt like an actual date night because for once we weren't in a rush. The wind died down before we left home, the temperature rose to a balmy -24C, and we left home early enough that it was still light outside. A good evening was had by all!
As soon as we arrived home I realized my energy had come up again after a long rest post house cleaning earlier in the day, so I decided to take a crack at finishing cleaning the rest of the suite. Two hours later I put away all the cleaners and dust rags and vaccuum cleaners. (Yes cleanerS, we have one on each floor including the basement, thanks to all the vaccuums my parents have given us over the years for various reasons. hahaha) The work is now completed. YIPPEE!!
Tomorrow I will now be free to pick up our refill water jugs, do some banking, deliver a bag of books to the nearest neighbourhood library box, put some clothes into the diabetes collection bin and enjoy the errands without the stress of having to rush home as soon as possible to complete housework! This has been a very good day indeed! Thank you Lord!
I love my dear husband who made the decision that I deserved a break out of the house tonight. Since tomorrow is the Friday night of a long weekend, all the restaurants will be crammed even more full than usual with husbands taking their wives out for the annual February Duty Dinner. Tonight seemed the perfect night for our own little non-celebration, so off we went to DarBar. (We ordered four different dishes and masala tea from the more expensive evening menu and our food bill plus taxes still came to only $38!)
We decided to try a couple of appetizers we haven't had before and wow, we made some great choices! I had a bowl of mulligatawny soup and it was fantabulous! This particular style is made with pureed vegetables, then some long grain rice is added, not too much, along with a small pat of butter and a wedge of lemon and sprinkling of cilantro floating on top of the bowl. It was unbelievably delicious. My husband ordered Bhel Puri, an delicious chaat snack made from a combination of puffed rice, peanuts, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, coriander, chilis, papdi (gram flour wafers) and sev (deep fried gram flour strings), then lightly covered with lime juice and a coriander chutney. SOOOOO GOOOD!! My husband ordered lamb rogan josh for his main dish, along with plain naan and I ordered chicken naan to have with my soup, but the waiter is so used to me ordering chicken samosas that that is what I got. hahahaha No matter.....also delicious of course with the extra salad and teeny bowl of chick peas in ground onion sauce that always accompanies the samosas. No complaints from me! My tea masala was particularly good tonight and the waiter remembered that I like the milk added immediately, but I want my sugar substitute on the side. How sweet is that, right? My husband told me over dinner how much he loves me and we had a good talk about all the reasons our marriage has survived this long...coming up to 43 years in a few weeks' time. It was a relaxed, fun evening together. It felt like an actual date night because for once we weren't in a rush. The wind died down before we left home, the temperature rose to a balmy -24C, and we left home early enough that it was still light outside. A good evening was had by all!
As soon as we arrived home I realized my energy had come up again after a long rest post house cleaning earlier in the day, so I decided to take a crack at finishing cleaning the rest of the suite. Two hours later I put away all the cleaners and dust rags and vaccuum cleaners. (Yes cleanerS, we have one on each floor including the basement, thanks to all the vaccuums my parents have given us over the years for various reasons. hahaha) The work is now completed. YIPPEE!!
Tomorrow I will now be free to pick up our refill water jugs, do some banking, deliver a bag of books to the nearest neighbourhood library box, put some clothes into the diabetes collection bin and enjoy the errands without the stress of having to rush home as soon as possible to complete housework! This has been a very good day indeed! Thank you Lord!
I Hear A Symphony.....
...or at least I WILL hear a symphony, all being well, this coming weekend! YAY!
A friend whose son plays with the Regina Symphony Orchestra was able to score a couple of reasonably priced tickets for their performance, so she asked me to join her as her guest for this Pops Performance. Something or someone or some group known as Belle Plaine is involved in this thing, but I am not going to do any research at all about what I am going to see and hear. I want it to be a complete surprise! Perhaps that will compensate somewhat for being squashed into the narrow seats and overly long, aisle free rows in the auditorium of Conexus Centre for the duration of the performance. I always vow I will never again go there because of the physical discomfort of the ridiculous seating arrangements, but my friend convinced me to go with her. I can suck it up for one evening and just enjoy the experience as a whole. I am delighted she thought of me.
I am delighted to have cleaned the main floor of our townhouse today. I took my time, didn't give in to the temptation to start cleaning upstairs as well simply because I had the time (thank you chris e.) and I am feeling very good about things. (The sun is shining on this bitterly cold day and I think that is also contributing to my feeling of well being.)
Over the past year I have been learning that spending several days in a row being completely inactive is poisonous for me. My mind and body need the stimulation of activity of some kind most every day, with only the occasional day off for complete rest. When I take several days off in a row from activity the depression that hits me is nearly overwhelming by the third or fourth day. This has become a pattern over the past year and now that I recognize it, finally, I can take steps to deal with it. Yay!!
So, tomorrow morning will be spent cleaning once again, but only for two or three hours rather than a day long marathon. Lots of activity but properly spaced seems to be working best for me so that I can maintain my blood sugar and mental health. It's all good!!
A friend whose son plays with the Regina Symphony Orchestra was able to score a couple of reasonably priced tickets for their performance, so she asked me to join her as her guest for this Pops Performance. Something or someone or some group known as Belle Plaine is involved in this thing, but I am not going to do any research at all about what I am going to see and hear. I want it to be a complete surprise! Perhaps that will compensate somewhat for being squashed into the narrow seats and overly long, aisle free rows in the auditorium of Conexus Centre for the duration of the performance. I always vow I will never again go there because of the physical discomfort of the ridiculous seating arrangements, but my friend convinced me to go with her. I can suck it up for one evening and just enjoy the experience as a whole. I am delighted she thought of me.
I am delighted to have cleaned the main floor of our townhouse today. I took my time, didn't give in to the temptation to start cleaning upstairs as well simply because I had the time (thank you chris e.) and I am feeling very good about things. (The sun is shining on this bitterly cold day and I think that is also contributing to my feeling of well being.)
Over the past year I have been learning that spending several days in a row being completely inactive is poisonous for me. My mind and body need the stimulation of activity of some kind most every day, with only the occasional day off for complete rest. When I take several days off in a row from activity the depression that hits me is nearly overwhelming by the third or fourth day. This has become a pattern over the past year and now that I recognize it, finally, I can take steps to deal with it. Yay!!
So, tomorrow morning will be spent cleaning once again, but only for two or three hours rather than a day long marathon. Lots of activity but properly spaced seems to be working best for me so that I can maintain my blood sugar and mental health. It's all good!!
On a Cheerier Note
I talked to Mom again last night and she was feeling a lot better. Apparently a problem had arisen with one of her eyes over the weekend and it had frightened her. No wonder she was so very upset when we talked on the phone a couple of days ago. So, yesterday she finally called the eye specialist she has been going to for years and he saw her immediately. The problem turned out to be minor and is getting better without any need for medical intervention. Whew! I am praying that she could have a few days now with no new issues to deal with. She is very excited about the Valentines Day tea happening tomorrow at her facility. The staff sets the tables with fine china teacups and dishes and the kitchen staff prepare all manner of “dainties” for everyone to enjoy. There is usually decent entertainment. We arranged for me to call Dad while she is at the tea so he won’t miss her daily afternoon phone call so much. Supposedly Dad will be having a visitor this afternoon, a cheery younger fellow. I have started to pray for the miracle it will take to get Dad moved into the long term care unit back in Mom’s facility. It is a small unit, but more fully staffed and it seems to be a generally cheerier and brighter place than his current residence. The care Dad is receiving now is adequate, but the separation from Mom and his friends “back home” is very stressful for him. It will take a near miracle to get him in there, but I am at least going to ask God if it is possible. Who knows, it could happen, right?
I am kind of grateful I didn’t get going on the housework until yesterday. It means I have something active to do indoors on two or three bitterly cold days. The day before yesterday the outside temperature was still -1C, rather a balmy stretch of weather had been in place for quite some time. That night the temperature dropped to -28C with a wind chill of about -35C and we are still experiencing that kind of cold today, possibly into tomorrow before it warms up a bit again. The winds have been howling and the metal siding on our building has been popping and banging as it contracts in the sudden cold. Occasionally a contraction will sound like a gun going off....rather starling at 3am! hahaha
Well, it is too early for breakfast and too late to bother trying to go back to sleep, so I think I will write some emails until my husband wakes up. He has a clericus to attend today so it is a perfect day to run the vacuum.
I am kind of grateful I didn’t get going on the housework until yesterday. It means I have something active to do indoors on two or three bitterly cold days. The day before yesterday the outside temperature was still -1C, rather a balmy stretch of weather had been in place for quite some time. That night the temperature dropped to -28C with a wind chill of about -35C and we are still experiencing that kind of cold today, possibly into tomorrow before it warms up a bit again. The winds have been howling and the metal siding on our building has been popping and banging as it contracts in the sudden cold. Occasionally a contraction will sound like a gun going off....rather starling at 3am! hahaha
Well, it is too early for breakfast and too late to bother trying to go back to sleep, so I think I will write some emails until my husband wakes up. He has a clericus to attend today so it is a perfect day to run the vacuum.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Revamping the Routine
This old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be! Sigh.....
For the past three days I have been trying to get this cess pit of a crumbling, ancient, ugly, rotting and now filthy old townhouse cleaned and sterilized once again. What a disaster! Until this afternoon I hadn't even begun! I have been tired, unmotivated, depressed (especially after talking to my parents this week) and achy. Blah!
Finally last evening at about 8pm I roused my slobby self off the sofa and did the ironing that was supposed to be completed on the weekend. It felt so good to get something accomplished, like it always does, but it didn't translate into my leaping out of bed and grabbing the dust rag this morning to get started on the actual cleaning project.
Up until last year I usually cleaned the entire suite in one day and although it took all day, I did a decent, thorough, detailed job of it. All this year my husband has been either on EI sabbatical or only gone a few hours a week to various meetings, so I began doing the top floor and bathroom one day, the bottom floor and wierd little front entry the next.
At this point I realize that to continue to retain some degree of thoroughness I am going to have to split my cleaning over three days! What the heck???? Today I woke up determined to at least get the bathroom cleaned and I succeeded at that....starting at (drum roll please) THREE O'CLOCK in the afternoon!!! I puttered about doing emails and talking on the phone, playing my piano, watching tv, doing a little art project and generally whiling away the entire morning doing anything but cleaning. (Unloading the dishwasher doesn't count because I was forced into it so I would have enough clean dishes available to make breakfast!)
Just before three o'clock I started feeling a bit more energy and drive, coupled with total embarassment that my husband came home from his entire morning away from home, the time I promised him I would be doing some cleaning, only to discover me still in my pj's and not one thing done around here. He never minds. Seriously, he never ever once in our lives has made me feel like he is disappointed because I have reneged on any sort of cleaning project, but that just makes me want to do the cleaning on time as a reward for his kindness for not hassling me.
So, now it is 5pm. The bathroom is not only cleaned, but every nook and cranny has been emptied of "stuff" and scrubbed down: the closet, the metal storage rack that wraps around the toilet, the baseboards, the walls the light fixtures, the medicine cabinet....the floor has been washed as well, AND as I was carrying the bucket of floor washing water back downstairs to be emptied, I realized it has been a long time since the teensy and oddly configured front entryway had been cleaned. Since I had no deadlines today, no specific plan for how much cleaning I HAD to get done, I took the time to clean in there as well: mitts and toques off the shelf above the coat rack so it could be washed and the outdoor wear rearranged, boot tray removed and washed thoroughly, throw rugs vaccuumed and floor washed.
Maybe there is a good reason for splitting up the cleaning so much, apart from my lack of ability to sustain the energy needed to do it in one day now. I only did those 2 spaces, but I did a thorough, detailed job of them. Hmmmm.....I think this dump can look a lot better if I continue the idea of doing fewer rooms per day and doing each one properly every time, no cheating. Yeah, I feel great!
I talked to both my parents yesterday: o dear.....there was not one thing right in either of their worlds. Two phone calls, one long litany of complaint after complaint. I was so emotionally exhausted and upset and stressed by the time I had talked to both of them that I started to cry. None of the things they are upset about are things that I can fix, or that I could "do" for them if I was living in their city. It is just that their lives are not happy any more, everything that happens warrants a total freakout, everything that happens is interpreted to be some sort of disaster. Last night was the worst it has ever been. I feel just horrible that this stage of their lives is so difficult for them both. While Mom is doing okay and is even happy in between disastrous events, the rest of the time she is in a tizzy every moment. Case in point: when she got her tax statement from her investment banker she noticed right away a box labelled "Deceased". There is a box with that label on all the standard investment statements. If the client to whom the statement applies is indeed deceased, then that box is marked with an X. All my mother could see was the word "Deceased" in the otherwise empty box on the page. She flipped out. The bank and subsequently the government would think she was dead. Her pensions would not arrive at the end of this month. It would never get straightened out. Her life....ruined forever. Sigh..... Fortunately when she tried to call me the day it arrived, I wasn't home, so she HAD to call the investment company herself. They explained it to her and had her calmed down in a matter of a few minutes and temporarily all was well with the world again....until she finally reached me and then it was ten minutes of asking why a standard form would have a category for a deceased person when the client wasn't deceased and on and on and on. I felt terrible for her, but also proud of her that she actually picked up the phone and called the company herself to get things sorted out. Way to go Mom! THEN I talked to Dad who told me that he is living in hell, the food is now no good and he hates everything and everybody and the staff lost his pajama shirt. They didn't, as it turned out. I got them to check in his clothes drawer and sure enough, whoever had last put his ski pajamas away thought the top was a tee shirt and put it in the shirt drawer instead of the pajama drawer. Both Mom and Dad had been upset because they thought the pj top had gone missing. I called Mom back and told her the pj shirt had been found in the shirt drawer and not to worry, she could put it back in the correct drawer when she next goes over to see Dad. Sigh.....
I feel so badly for my parents. They are both miserable, although to be fair, Mom has some very good days, it is just that the last couple of days have not been among them. Dad has given up on everything and who can blame him in a way. He is bitter that he has ended up this way and I understand that. I just wish he could help himself accept reality and at least be able to try to find some sense of peace. It is very sad.
Apart from my dear parents' issues, about which I cannot do much at this point beyond phoning them regularly to commiserate and try to be encouraging, all is well in my world. Hopefully, now that I have finally started the badly needed housework, I will be newly energized and able to continue tomorrow and the following day to get this place in ship shape once again.
Time to make supper....all ready......yikes!
For the past three days I have been trying to get this cess pit of a crumbling, ancient, ugly, rotting and now filthy old townhouse cleaned and sterilized once again. What a disaster! Until this afternoon I hadn't even begun! I have been tired, unmotivated, depressed (especially after talking to my parents this week) and achy. Blah!
Finally last evening at about 8pm I roused my slobby self off the sofa and did the ironing that was supposed to be completed on the weekend. It felt so good to get something accomplished, like it always does, but it didn't translate into my leaping out of bed and grabbing the dust rag this morning to get started on the actual cleaning project.
Up until last year I usually cleaned the entire suite in one day and although it took all day, I did a decent, thorough, detailed job of it. All this year my husband has been either on EI sabbatical or only gone a few hours a week to various meetings, so I began doing the top floor and bathroom one day, the bottom floor and wierd little front entry the next.
At this point I realize that to continue to retain some degree of thoroughness I am going to have to split my cleaning over three days! What the heck???? Today I woke up determined to at least get the bathroom cleaned and I succeeded at that....starting at (drum roll please) THREE O'CLOCK in the afternoon!!! I puttered about doing emails and talking on the phone, playing my piano, watching tv, doing a little art project and generally whiling away the entire morning doing anything but cleaning. (Unloading the dishwasher doesn't count because I was forced into it so I would have enough clean dishes available to make breakfast!)
Just before three o'clock I started feeling a bit more energy and drive, coupled with total embarassment that my husband came home from his entire morning away from home, the time I promised him I would be doing some cleaning, only to discover me still in my pj's and not one thing done around here. He never minds. Seriously, he never ever once in our lives has made me feel like he is disappointed because I have reneged on any sort of cleaning project, but that just makes me want to do the cleaning on time as a reward for his kindness for not hassling me.
So, now it is 5pm. The bathroom is not only cleaned, but every nook and cranny has been emptied of "stuff" and scrubbed down: the closet, the metal storage rack that wraps around the toilet, the baseboards, the walls the light fixtures, the medicine cabinet....the floor has been washed as well, AND as I was carrying the bucket of floor washing water back downstairs to be emptied, I realized it has been a long time since the teensy and oddly configured front entryway had been cleaned. Since I had no deadlines today, no specific plan for how much cleaning I HAD to get done, I took the time to clean in there as well: mitts and toques off the shelf above the coat rack so it could be washed and the outdoor wear rearranged, boot tray removed and washed thoroughly, throw rugs vaccuumed and floor washed.
Maybe there is a good reason for splitting up the cleaning so much, apart from my lack of ability to sustain the energy needed to do it in one day now. I only did those 2 spaces, but I did a thorough, detailed job of them. Hmmmm.....I think this dump can look a lot better if I continue the idea of doing fewer rooms per day and doing each one properly every time, no cheating. Yeah, I feel great!
I talked to both my parents yesterday: o dear.....there was not one thing right in either of their worlds. Two phone calls, one long litany of complaint after complaint. I was so emotionally exhausted and upset and stressed by the time I had talked to both of them that I started to cry. None of the things they are upset about are things that I can fix, or that I could "do" for them if I was living in their city. It is just that their lives are not happy any more, everything that happens warrants a total freakout, everything that happens is interpreted to be some sort of disaster. Last night was the worst it has ever been. I feel just horrible that this stage of their lives is so difficult for them both. While Mom is doing okay and is even happy in between disastrous events, the rest of the time she is in a tizzy every moment. Case in point: when she got her tax statement from her investment banker she noticed right away a box labelled "Deceased". There is a box with that label on all the standard investment statements. If the client to whom the statement applies is indeed deceased, then that box is marked with an X. All my mother could see was the word "Deceased" in the otherwise empty box on the page. She flipped out. The bank and subsequently the government would think she was dead. Her pensions would not arrive at the end of this month. It would never get straightened out. Her life....ruined forever. Sigh..... Fortunately when she tried to call me the day it arrived, I wasn't home, so she HAD to call the investment company herself. They explained it to her and had her calmed down in a matter of a few minutes and temporarily all was well with the world again....until she finally reached me and then it was ten minutes of asking why a standard form would have a category for a deceased person when the client wasn't deceased and on and on and on. I felt terrible for her, but also proud of her that she actually picked up the phone and called the company herself to get things sorted out. Way to go Mom! THEN I talked to Dad who told me that he is living in hell, the food is now no good and he hates everything and everybody and the staff lost his pajama shirt. They didn't, as it turned out. I got them to check in his clothes drawer and sure enough, whoever had last put his ski pajamas away thought the top was a tee shirt and put it in the shirt drawer instead of the pajama drawer. Both Mom and Dad had been upset because they thought the pj top had gone missing. I called Mom back and told her the pj shirt had been found in the shirt drawer and not to worry, she could put it back in the correct drawer when she next goes over to see Dad. Sigh.....
I feel so badly for my parents. They are both miserable, although to be fair, Mom has some very good days, it is just that the last couple of days have not been among them. Dad has given up on everything and who can blame him in a way. He is bitter that he has ended up this way and I understand that. I just wish he could help himself accept reality and at least be able to try to find some sense of peace. It is very sad.
Apart from my dear parents' issues, about which I cannot do much at this point beyond phoning them regularly to commiserate and try to be encouraging, all is well in my world. Hopefully, now that I have finally started the badly needed housework, I will be newly energized and able to continue tomorrow and the following day to get this place in ship shape once again.
Time to make supper....all ready......yikes!
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Thank you Lord!
This month has been looking kind of tight financially and I admit I have truly been concerned, but still we wanted to make a donation to Youth For Christ last evening at the banquet, so we did. (Any Christian organization that has the kind of amazing working relationship with the secular provincial government social services as YFC does here in Saskatchewan deserves all the support it can get in our opinion! Based on our own former and extremely negative experiences between Christian charities and the provincial government in a different province, this wonderful relationship seems a near miracle to us.) I figured out how much extra money we would need to get through this month before even making the donation and was tempted to feel discouraged at that point. Then on top of that we felt strongly that we wanted to make the donation. OK God, it’s all your money anyway.
This morning I went online as soon as I woke up and discovered a notice from our dental insurance company. The claim I made last December that had never arrived at the insurance office finally arrived yesterday It was made into a quick claim because of its late delivery and processed immediately. Today the reimbursement is being deposited into our account. Guess how much? Yup, the amount I thought we would need to survive this month, plus the amount of the donation we made last night, plus the amount of tithe from this total payment we can donate elsewhere.
God is so good to us. Why???? Our sufferings seem so minimal compared to others around us. We have them of course and I don’t blog about most of them, but his faithfulness in providing for our needs continues to amaze us. Just yesterday someone asked how we survive from month to month and now I have a new testimony to share with her. Telling our stories to each other is becoming more important as the condition of the world around us rapidly deteriorates. Yesterday I heard stories of incredible life transformations from staff members and youth at the YFC banquet. I needed to hear those stories of God at work in their lives. It bolsters my own trust in God and this morning I had another piece of evidence of his care for us.
Is God doing things in your life that reveal his presence and love? Please don’t be afraid to tell your stories as opportunities arise. The rest of us need the encouragement during these difficult times.
This morning I went online as soon as I woke up and discovered a notice from our dental insurance company. The claim I made last December that had never arrived at the insurance office finally arrived yesterday It was made into a quick claim because of its late delivery and processed immediately. Today the reimbursement is being deposited into our account. Guess how much? Yup, the amount I thought we would need to survive this month, plus the amount of the donation we made last night, plus the amount of tithe from this total payment we can donate elsewhere.
God is so good to us. Why???? Our sufferings seem so minimal compared to others around us. We have them of course and I don’t blog about most of them, but his faithfulness in providing for our needs continues to amaze us. Just yesterday someone asked how we survive from month to month and now I have a new testimony to share with her. Telling our stories to each other is becoming more important as the condition of the world around us rapidly deteriorates. Yesterday I heard stories of incredible life transformations from staff members and youth at the YFC banquet. I needed to hear those stories of God at work in their lives. It bolsters my own trust in God and this morning I had another piece of evidence of his care for us.
Is God doing things in your life that reveal his presence and love? Please don’t be afraid to tell your stories as opportunities arise. The rest of us need the encouragement during these difficult times.
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