The Chains On My Mood Swings Have Come Off....RUUUUUUNNNNN!!!!

 Today I seemed to be diagonally parked in a parallel universe.....

I scream, you scream, we all scream, the cops come and it's awkward.....

And that's the kind of day it was.............better luck the rest of the week, right?

Yesterday's Great Escape! YIPPEE!!!

 Yesterday was one of the happiest days we have had in months!  We are so grateful for the invitation from Moose Jaw friends to join them for lunch yesterday at a restaurant owned and operated by several other friends and aquaintances, Cornerstone Grill.

We started off with a lovely drive in the sunshine along the dry highway....no snow or ice of any kind to contend with. The conditions for a wee jaunt out of town were perfect.

The restaurant manager happens to be the daughter of the people we were meeting, so she seated us in a comfy booth around a corner from the main dining area.  It was like being in our own private dining room.  We had no distancing concerns as the other customers appeared to be "miles" away from us. The food was delicious, all but the wine sourced from within the borders of Saskatchewan and it was well prepared.  Between the four of us we enjoyed curried parsnip soup, fries prepared in beef tallow that tasted like the fries I so enjoyed as a kid back in the Olden Days, salads with various bean sprout greens, a gingery coleslaw, kimchee style pickle made on site, bison burgers and chicken ranch burgers all served on sourdough buns and a sourdough "chips" to dip in both chickpea hummus and the most delicious lentil hummus I have ever eaten.  As we sat enjoying our meal the chefs and kitchen staff we know trickled out one by one to say hello, so we had the opportunity to tell them how much we enjoyed the food.  The restaurant owners opened the Wandering Market in Moose Jaw some time ago and now have this wonderful restaurant going just since last October.  If the number of well spaced tables filled with patrons is any indication, their restaurant venture will do well even in this pandemic!

Being able to sit across a table from two friends who we have missed so desperately for so long was even more spectacular than the meal.  Visiting with masks on is still superior to not visiting at all. Visiting together in a restaurant was the added icing on the cake.  It is the most "normal" either my husband or myself has felt in a very long time.  In just over two weeks' time we will celebrate the anniversary of the news that restaurants and churches would be closing indefinitely while governments and health regions attempted to figure out what to do to cope with the onset of COVID19 and its fatal attraction to so many unsuspecting people world wide. 

While we sat indoors beside some big windows we watched icy snow showers raining down outside.  When we walked out to our car afterward we discovered it had quite a coating of thin ice all over it, but it wasn't difficult to bat the ice off the windows with our hands and away we came home again.  About 20km from home we drove into a bit of high, thin fog and damp highway conditions, but we were home and settled down in front of the tv before the next round of snow showers arrived.  It was the perfect driving window for us yesterday.

For the first time since being diagnosed with diabetes over 7 years ago, I ate my entire plate of food at the restaurant, including the "healthy" sized mound of french fries.  I don't remember the last time I ate an entire order of fries. Usually I subtitute them for salad and just eat three or four from my generous husband's offerings from his own meal, but yesterday was SO wonderful, so other worldly in its way, that I threw all caution to the wind and just ate them.  I ate two of the sourdough chips with hummus as well, BUT I did ask for the kitchen to leave the bun off my chicken burger.  I was amazed that my blood sugar didn't go nearly as high afterward as I expected it to, but that just points to the good long term disease management I was taught to follow when I was first diagnosed.  A blowout once every 7 years seems to be okay. Thank you Diabetic Specialty nurses Ann and Janelle!  

I was so full after all that food that I had to force myself to finally eat some yogurt and have a slice of toast later in the evening to keep my sugars steady overnight. I couldn't face eating dinner after a giant lunch like that!  My husband was so buoyed by the visiting that he sailed right into his final prayer presentation with my church's youth group and ate his own dinner at 9pm!  It wasn't just because he was still full from lunch that he skipped dinner, he was still flying high from the joy of such a grand visit with his buddy after such a long time of not being able to see each other.  

This is my husband's weekend off from parish duties. This morning he was able to sleep in and now he is vegging out in front of the tv looking all cozy and happily dopey in his lap robe.

I do have a prayer request, should you be so inclined: a situation of long standing in one of his churches has led to a rather large disaster of a situation.  Short version is that as a result of all this, my husband may have to inform the bishop that he has not the physical or emotional wherewithall to help the congregation to fix their own mess and it COULD mean he will have to give up his entire ministry in that parish as there are not the funds available to have two people involved.  Hopefully that is not what is going to happen and we will not know for some weeks if that is going to be the outcome of the conversations happening with the diocese next week, but it is certainly possible. If that should happen it would mean we will have to start scrambling for a far less expensive place to live for a move May 1st.  We feel we don't have the strength to face such a thing, but if we have to face it the strength will be there and we know that, but right now it seems our quiet staid life may be in for another upheaval in the midst of trying to deal with extended family issues from a distance. Blecch!!  Thanks for praying.  It may not come to this, but we know from past experiences that it very well may come to this, so better to be prepared just in case.  hahaha Those of you who have known us for the past few decades know this........

Looking forward to the next installment of my church adult Sunday School class tomorrow morning.  THIS morning is half over and I haven't even decided yet what I want to do today! 

 

This One Is Definitely For My Husband! Tee Hee

 My husband has three pair of glasses because his eyes can't seem to adjust to graduated lenses. With his short term distraction issues you can imagine the "fun" we have around here each day searching from the needed pair of glasses, be they distance, mid or short range. LOVE this meme:  

 

A Bit of Good News Faithful Prayer Warriors!

 My husband’s sister called this morning to say that she finally has an appointment at the cancer institute at the end of next week! She has been turned over to the radiologist for a consult and an MRI. The joy is that while it may seem like a small step after three weeks of anticipatory waiting, it is a step forward. It means she can live her life to the full over the next week without the stress of wondering when she will finally hear something from the institute.

Then, a few minutes ago, more good news from her! There is a cancellation in the MRI department for tomorrow afternoon and she gets to have that appointment! When she sees the radiologist next week he will already have the results and they will be another step ahead!!!! Yippee!

She is very grateful for the many prayers all of you have been praying on her behalf and so are my husband and I! God has provided some very positive answers today.

A Satisfying Sort of Day at Home

Days like this make me happy.  I started off the day feeling well because of an unusually sound sleep overnight.  I had lots of time to prepare and eat a decent breakfast before my walking partner came over for one of our 2 hour long outdoor distancing visits on the back porch.  THIS time I didn't get dizzy and have to lie down afterward from the sheer giddiness of having a person to person visit! hahaha  Although it was only -6C this morning, it seemed much colder with a bit of a chilly breeze and some small snowflakes falling for part of the time.  We survived well and had a good chit chat.  She is one of those friends who is able to share a conversation and never run out of things to talk about even with boring me!  Fantastic.

During our visit a Canada Post delivery truck arrived bearing a gift pour moi!  My husband's sister ordered me a set of peppermint/sage, lavender and wild rose hand creams, body washes and shampoos from Manitobah Mukluks as a surprise gift!  My heart was touched by her generosity and I LOVE this set of fragrances.  They actually smell like real lavender and wild roses and sage, not chemical substitutes.  I have tried out both the hand creams already and they are wonderful moisturizers and the aroma is gentle and lovely.  Thank you in spades for this thoughtful gift. 

 My husband and I enjoyed our leftover lunch of turkey meatballs in tomato sauce with rice and yellow beans while we watched  Valdez KO Berchelt in their recent fight and walk away with the belt when so many thought Berchelt was a shoo in to retain the Super Featherweight title.

I headed to the post office to mail letters and to the bank to deposit a cheque in our savings account.  No one recognizes me there any more...that tells you how little I have saved in the past year, hahaha. I figured out a pathway through the ice and piles of mud and sand to access my car.  I cut an old bathmat into two pieces and put the pieces down on the front floor of the car so that both passenger and driver will have somewhere for the mud and sand from the lot to drop onto. Then when there is less mess outside those yucky mats can be thrown out.

The rest of my afternoon was busy with phone calls: first a thrilling call from a friend in BC who had arrived home less than 10 minutes earlier from her hospital stay after a joint replacement surgery yesterday. She sounded so cheery  and is ecstatic to be out of pain for the first time in years.

 I barely hung up from that call when my mother called with the good news that her COVID19 first vaccination actually DID happen today and she felt just fine afterward. Some other meds issues also resolved themselves in the past few days and she so wanted to share some happy news for a change.  YAY!

 Immediately after that call a friend from Alberta called. News regarding her upcoming surgery is not as positive as the post surgical report from my BC friend, but my AB friend has met her news with positivity, fortitude and practicality. She will survive this surgery, and although she is going to have some life long inconveniences to deal with afterward, the surgery is saving her life and she is already researching various ways she can continue her life well with few real changes to her daily activities once she heals.

 A friend of my husband's stopped by long enough to leave my husband a gift of a new book and some fresh from China Pu Erh tea!  It was most unexpected and such a thoughtful gift from a new friend of his.

Mom called again with yet more good news. hahahahaha  She didn't want to forget any of these amazing wonders prior to our usual evening call, which I thought we wouldn't need to have, but nope....she called me at our usual time bubbling over with more good news.  I am so excited that Mom had SUCH a good day after several depressing and dismal days over the past week.

Our lunch was filling so I just had nachos for dinner.

My husband and I watched a couple of short tv programmes after dinner. He was able to complete an article today he has been writing for the diocesan newspaper and tonight he began preparing the final bit of study material for my church youth group's meeting this weekend.  He has two meetings tomorrow, morning and evening, but then things will slow down a bit.  

 He also got a special treat today from his parish: because he was feeling so ill this past Sunday he traded it for his day off next Sunday. Today he got a call from one of the vestry members to tell him it seemed unfair that he should be penalized his time off just because he had to miss one service due to illness, so he gets next Sunday off as per usual.  He is tickled pink about it.  How kind are these people, right?  His lay reader assistant is very good at leading the services and delivering a meditation, so he is quite happy for the chance to do it once again.

My son headed out to Long Island again this morning for the weekend.  He took a painting and his art supplies along so he can do some work while he is relaxing away from the city.  His girlfriend is exhausted after writing her LSATS last weekend and it will be good for both of them to have a break from the daily routine.  I am happy for him. 

All in all it was a pretty good day around here.

Now, if I could just stop worrying about the early arrival of the geese: I am assuming that the storms in Texas and other places south of the border where they winter over have driven them south over a month early. With the lack of food here and even worse lack at the still snow and ice covered northern sanctuaries, I fear the Canada goose population around here could be devastated by starvation.  Yes, I detest them, but they are still fellow creatures and I worry about their welfare. 

AND Did I Mention.....

 .....that sea shanties are have made an unexpected resurrgence as "popular music"!???!

Is this the epitome of the alternate universe I seem to inhabit now????

Living In An Alternate Universe!

 That is how I feel these days fer shur!

Written documents and tv scripts have changed "lose" to "loose" and "raise" to "rise".

 The word "woke" has lost its innocence as a way to describe the past tense of awake and carries the now popular connotation, if not actual definition, of being well informed and aware of specifically social and racial issues.

There are geese on my front lawn in February.

 My back yard looks like a war zone since the water main breaks underground resulted in the tearing up of the lawn and parking lot.

People are using social media sites to toss out their often uneducated and in some cases downright ignorant opinions about the lives of other people, ruining lives with their personally misdirected sense of justice and/or morality and often not knowing or worse, not caring, about facts, or scientific data, or world history, or.....

Although the sun is shining and I have "away from home chores" I would like to do, it isn't safe to go out to do any of them this late in the day without having to take extraordinary pandemic safety measures to protect my and other peoples' health.

I experienced an exuberance last evening that was quite out of proportion to the simple fact that although this is my usual day of the week to get up at 6am for the 7am Seniors' Shopping hour, I didn't need to go today.  

I cannot go to visit my own mother in another province right now due to provincial regulations for keeping senior citizens safe in their seniors' residences.

 We cannot go out of province to comfort and assist relatives with severe health issues because of the possibility of endangering them further should we inadvertently bring The Virus with us.

I cannot travel out of the country without endangering lives by possible exposure to the Coronavirus, particularly the new variants and if I do travel, the safety protocols on both sides of any borders I am crossing are intense, expensive and, in the case of trying to re-enter my own country, somewhat frightening in their execution.

My hair is longer than it has been in over 20 years because it isn't safe for me personally to risk picking up The Virus in a hair dressing salon.

My husband is going deaf and both of us are looking older than Methuselah these days.  We no longer recognize ourselves in the mirror with our wrinkled skin.  We are both developing a more shuffling style of gait when we are tired or when we are crossing obstacles on the ground on foot.  Proprioception ( or kinesthesia: the loss of ability to properly perceive location, movement and actions in parts of the body such as joints and muscle effort) has set in for us both.  I believe it is one of the reasons my husband tumbled down the basement stairs the other day, why his attempt to right himself when he realized he was losing his balance failed.

We have not seen our son in over a year due to the pandemic issues and we have no idea when or even if we will ever get to see him again.

Our province is telling us that there will be mass vaccinations for Coronavirus available to all the people in our age decade by April, but they are flailing around in the dark as far as any sort of accurate predictions about coming vaccinations, just like the rest of the medical people and politicians are doing.  No one knows for sure what is going to happen with vaccines, or Coronavirus mutant strains, or the end of strict social restrictions or anything else.  Everyone is simply doing their best to cope with and contain a situation none of us were adequately prepared to deal with when it happened.

Having a friend over for a distanced, masked, outdoor visit makes me so giddy with excitement that I get dizzy by the end of the visit and have to lie down afterward.

Yup, I have not  adjusted to this different world of ours quite yet.

Not Fair...NOT FAIR!

 There is a pair of geese on our lawn.

It is only February.

What fresh hell hath been wroth upon us?

God make it stop!

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Then We Lost Power!

 A little while ago my husband and I stepped out on the back deck to enjoy the +4C temperature, along with the strong wind gusts, and shortly afterward our next door neighbout stepped out as well, to ask us if we had just lost our electrical power.....we looked inside at the clock on the microwave and sure enough....nary a number showing.  Sigh..... Fortunately it was only out for a half hour and I have just finished resetting the various clocks in our suite...although it may go out again for awhile, who knows? hahaha Since losing power also meant the loss of signal and connection for our cordless telephones my husband figures the only thing left to go out now is the natural gas.  O no....please not that as well, hahahahahahaha.

Weeeeeellllll....the clean up crew in the parking lot just left and oh dear God, what a disaster still reigns supreme out there.  We have to climb a two foot tall hill of sand that sits just up on the curb/lawn as their equipment is not authorized to clear anything but the parking lot itself.  I highly doubt the property maintenance crew is going to bother to come and move it.  The lawn is a sea of mud and thick ice that won't be able to be dealt with until after the spring thaw and our actual parking space is covered with 5 inches of solid ice with a muddy coating.  Of course I gave away my rubber boots last fall....because I hate them and because I was too short sighted (and living in denial) to foresee this kind of scenario taking place.  Soooooo we are going to have to go outside and scout out an alternate route to get around the mud and sand to get to and from our vehicle once I return it from the side street later today.  

Wow, what a ruddy mess!!!!  BUT at least we can access our spot.  We are more concerned that with the elimination of the delineated parking spot lines, we will come home often only to find some other neighbour's visitors parked in our designated area.  We have been through that before and what a hassle it is!  

BUT we have running water again and the power has come back on....that is what I will rejoice about!

Four Family and Friends, Six Appointments Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is a big day for one relative and three friends.  Between them there will be a surgery, a pre-surgical consult, two neurologist appointments, a counselling appointment and a pre-treatment consult.  I am feeling nearly prayed out these days as these are not the only four people I am praying for regularly.  Interesting though how there is always strength at any time of day when I am praying for others.  God is so faithful to them by keeping the rest of us inspired in our daily prayers.  Love it!!

 It is partly sunny again today, there are "happy winds" ushering in a warm front that appears will last for the next 5 days before a cooler, more seasonal weekend.  This morning I went outside at 7:45am to move our car onto the street so that the water main crew could start removing the mountain of debris out of our parking space now that they have restored our water flow, and it was +2C, warm and beautiful.  I didn't mind having to take the long way around on the snowy lawns to access our car rather than try to cross the thick ice on the parking lot, because it kept me outside a few minutes longer.  What a lovely day!

 My husband is feeling much better today after a rough day yesterday.  He finally had a day with no commitments so he could relax enough to experience the let down from his tumble down the basement stairs the other day.  He had 2 naps and ate several small meals, watched tv and didn't do one thing he didn't feel up to doing.  Looks like just maybe he can take today and tomorrow off as well before the rest of this month's busyness begins.  With preparing a several weeks long theological course for presentation in April and all the extra Easter week services that MAY end up happening in person since the Bishop decided each church could decide if they want to open again following the strict pandemic protocols, March and April look as though they are going to be just as  busy for him as February has been.  To me, it is utterly ridiculous to expect so much from a 1/4 time priest, and then he also takes on all the extra teaching assignments etc., but I have given up trying to get him to see reason, so he is doomed all spring to be more tired than he needs to be.  People with a gift of ministry always overdo it, take less pay than they should and volunteer to do too many things for free. 'Twas ever thus and I don't begrudge him all the fun he has in his ministry.  He is a workaholic by nature, as so many ministers are.  God certainly provides many unexpected blessings to us and I suspect my husband's willingness to serve is the reason why.

Today I have a bunch of dishes to deal with. The dishwasher is working again now that we have running water, so time to remove a full, clean load and start putting in the next one.  I have some hand washing to do as well since I was too tired yesterday to do much of use once the laundry was finished. My hip is bothering me again so after all those trips up and down stairs, I just had to sit down for most of the evening.  I also have ironing to do this afternoon and I never mind that. There is something calming about it.

 

 

LIght At The End Of The Loneliness Tunnel!

Today has been an oasis in the desert of pandemic social restrictions!  My friend Kat came over to spend the afternoon with me and it was FANTASTIC!  We distanced our chairs outside in the bright sun in front of the building, donned our masks and sat outside gabbing and gibbering for over two hours. The temperature was a balmy -3C! Not to be too repetitive, but it was FANTASTIC!!!!!  All my crabbies that I was fighting this morning dissolved within the first 3 minutes of our visit and I feel completely rejuvenated!  What a lovely blessing!  The sunshine contained a fair amount of warmth and we were laughing at the thought that this summer it isn't going to be only tan lines from swimsuit straps women will have to worry about: now we are going to have skinny tan lines on our faces from our MASKS! hahaha  Last time Kat was here it was -17C and we only lasted an hour before our feet became too cold to sit out on the back deck any longer. Today we were stripping off gloves and extra layers of clothing because it was so warm!

Today's visit has given me a beaming ray of hope in regard to spring, summer and autumn social visits even if we are still as restricted as we are now in our social interaction.  If we can manage to have such great visits in the winter time, how much more fun will it be to be able to sit outside in good weather, sans parkas and boots and heavy mittens???  Come spring there will be many more visits with many more people, all outdoors and that is just fine.  As much as I miss feeding friends dinners and sharing a glass of wine together, just being able to talk masked face to masked face from ten feet away is going to be pretty darned FANTASTIC!!!  Amen!

 

 

Water At Last

 Just before 5pm the water came on and stayed on. The crews loaded up the heavy equipment, told us apologetically that since the landfill is closed until Monday morning that they could not remove the last piles of sand and icy chunks of earth from our parking space until Monday and away they went. My husband did find a space free to park our car within sight of our suite so it won’t be on the street for the weekend and in the process of all this we discovered yet another two 18.9 litre jugs of water on our back deck that must have arrived well after I accepted the first two last evening. Of course the water had frozen so solidly that the plastic jug was bulging at the bottom and the lids were starting to pop off from the pressure of the column of ice in the neck of the bottle, but both jugs are now sitting on my sink thawing for use in cooking and drinking over the weekend.

Mom’s doctor called me today to tell me her kidney function has improved unexpectedly, yay, and tell me what the adjustments to her meds will be. He is very pleasant to talk to and very calm. I am happy he called. Mom is happy this evening after a pitiful day emotionally. She was frightened about her kidney and now she can rejoice. 

My husband’s sore arm and back from his tumble down the stairs yesterday are much improved today. I am so relieved. His course on Wisdom Literature went well tonight and he had more students in attendance than expected, how delightful. He has a much longer course to teach on Basic Theology starting in April. He is a happy camper being so busy with doing the teaching he loves best. 

Talked to several friends today that I haven’t talked to in some time. That was a great treat! 

Fave Fun Song

 

Coming and Going

The water main repair crews have come back this morning and are still seeking the exact location of the second break.  Our half of the long parking lot is now completely dug up, there are two deep holes in the ground with aluminum ladders sticking out of the tops of them as the workers descend to see what they can find down there.  Meanwhile the big circular perpendicular saw is buzzing through more asphalt and thick ice underneath and the big bucket on the cat is waiting to start ripping out big chunks of same when the saw is done. It is so much fun to be this close to all that big machinery again.  There were SOME good things about our former life as construction contactors.  hahaha LOVE those big machines and tools.

Last evening, very late at night, I was trying to help an even more elderly person than myself figure out how to use her newly set up blog.  Talk about the old leading the elderly. In the process of trying to explain to her how to delete posts already published, I managed to delete two of my own, hahaha.  O well, I think anyone who wanted or needed to read them already has, so no big deal. hahahaha  O my, I felt silly.

The forecast warm up seems to be on the way. Although it was -25C overnight with a -33C windchill, by 6am the frost was appearing on all the trees and  now the branches are thick with its glorious pure whiteness.  This is most encouraging! I am looking forward to being able to at least step out on the back deck on occasion to get some fresh air that isn't so cold it glues both sides of my nostrils together as I breathe!

Water Water Everywhere.........

 ......except in our complex! The water main repair crew packed it in and went home just after 7pm. Unfortunately the water is still shut off, so I was facing the prospect of having to start using our R/O water for washing dishes and flushing the toilet. At 8:30pm a member of our property management company showed up at our door with two 18.9 litre jugs of water for us to use overnight! Wow! What a blessing! Thank you Boardwalk for taking care of your tenants so well and supplying all the effected suites with water jugs! This is just great! 

And Its On and On and On and On We Go...Around the World in Circles Turning...(Thank you "O Lucky Man!")

 These song lyrics are so apropos today!  My dear husband is struggling to get his PowerPoint fine tuned the way he wants it for tomorrow's presentation for the diocesan theological school in the midst of extra work related phone calls and emails, the thundering construction noise and related shuddering of our building as our lawn is being torn up and then in the midst of everything our son called, which is not a call his father is about to miss, right? hahaha

A few minutes ago our water started up again and we were advised to keep it running all night so the pipes don't freeze again from the freezing sand and soil the crew has to pack around that repair in order to fill in the giant hole in the yard.  However, the water quit running again just seconds ago, so does that mean there is another problem?  My husband is contemplating whether or not he should run outside and tell the crew we have no water, or if he should wait because they have just moved the outside shut off valve and that could be the issue.  Aaaaaargh!!  How is the poor man supposed to concentrate on his course preparation, right?

*****************************************************************

Well, I decided to check with the crew about the water stopping a second time and sure enough, they did have to shut the water off again because they located a second break. Those poor fellows.  Their faces are beet red from the cold.  They haven't eaten or had so much as a glass of water in hours and now they have to locate with certainty the second main break and get that repaired before they can leave the site.  Right now they are filling in the giant hole in our lawn:

Too Much Excitement For One Morning....WAY Too MUCH!!

 My day began right on the dot of midnight today!  I had fallen asleep with the light on and my book spread across my stomach, glasses still on and it was those glasses digging into my nose that woke me.  I started to take them off when I realized I was staring directly at a fairly large spider peering out at me from inside my purse that was sitting, open, on the floor.  I made a lunge for him, missed of course in my stupor, he made a run across the carpet and into the garbage can, where I was able to keep him trapped until I could get up and get his chubby butt removed outside into a warm burrowing hole at the bottom of our outside steps. Sigh....  I did manage to get back to sleep right away though, so that was nice.

I had a great sleep, slept in until about 8:30am and staggered into the bathroom to wash my face and start the day with a big breakfast.  The first thing I discovered was that we had no running water. Wha'?  I listened closely and heard the sound of the maintenance bobcats scraping their buckets across the parking lot, so I correctly assumed there had been a water main break overnight.  Hoo haaa, was there ever a water main break!!  The main right under our back lawn, twenty feet from our back door had cratered overnight and water from the underground sprinkling system etc. had flooded the lawns all across the back of our complex, cascaded down the parking lot from directly under our car and there was a foot of water and icy slush gathered around the main drain near the other end of our lot.  The bobcat operators were wearing hip waders as they hopped in and out of the bobcats in an attempt to locate the drain under the layers of frozen slush and get the water draining away.  Yikes, what a royal mess outside.

My husband is always prepared for water pipe turn offs, so he decided he would go downstairs to the basement and bring up the 22 litres of water he has stored down there in big jugs, just in case of this kind of emergency.  Unfortunately, he wasn't quite awake when he headed down the basement steps in his bare feet.  His foot slipped and he tumbled head first down the staircase onto the cement floor below.  Sigh.... FORTUNATELY, a thick mat at the bottom, plus two large bags of recyclable plastic bottles and cans softened his landing somewhat as he landed mostly on them.  The old furnace filter I put there a couple of days ago to remind me to take it to the garbage bin on my next trip out there, caught his head and folded itself in half around the back and top of his head.  He came out of the most spectacular, noisy, terrifying fall I have ever witnessed with very few injuries: a scrap behind one elbow, a bit of a lump and abrasion on his head where he made contact with the cement wall on the way down and a very sore shoulder that seems to be bruised and sprained, but which will likely recover in a week or so.  My fear was a concussion, but he has been fine, awake, not feeling dizzy or discombobulated, thank goodness.    He went into immediate shock of course, but fortunately we have a bed set up in the basement and he was able to lie down comfortably with a bottle of water, while I washed the furnace dirt from the old filter out of his hair.  He was up and about in less than ten minutes and made it back up the stairs safely.  

He barely got upstairs when we found out we were going to have to move our car to allow the heavy machinery into our part of the complex parking lot to start digging trenches in the lawn and through our parking space to locate and repair (hopefully) the offending broken piping.  There was so much ice across the lawn that my husband refused to risk my breaking more bones by going out to move the car and falling down on the ice. The thin sheet of running water across that ice is what could have caused me to fall more than just walking on the ice itself. So, my shaken husband pulled on his clothes and outer wear and went out to move the vehicle to the side street.   Sigh.... the poor man....I felt really badly that he had to do that, but he was absolutely right that it was even more dangerous for me to be out there. Good thing he did go...one of the tires on our car was completely encased in ice and it took him a bit of chipping and rocking the car back and forth to release it without damaging the tire.  After driving around the block a couple of times he finally found a relatively safe spot to park it. The near miracle is that we had shut off the power to the heating cord overnight, assuming we weren't going to be driving anywhere today, BUT the car started right up. It was sluggish and needed warming for a few minutes before he could start trying to back it up, but it did move, the tire came free and it is parked away from here.  Once he returned home, my husband cut himself a piece of banana loaf, reheated a stale  cup of tea and raced back upstairs to his office for his first of several Zoom meetings today.  He told the others at the meeting about his fall, so they promised me they would keep an eye on him to make sure he wasn't getting drowsy or incoherent. No worries...I think he is safe from concussion but I will watch him closely for the next 24 hours.

While he was in the meeting, I ended up fielding more ministry related phone calls for him than I have in months, all needing responses "yesterday", but he was in a meeting so they had to wait.  He has caught up now on all of them.  I also realized I was starting to feel faint shortly after his meeting began.  Aaaaah, no wonder: in the upset of his fall and the shock of having to move cars and figure out a water supply for ourselves, diabetic me had completely forgotten to eat breakfast.  So now I can't have lunch until 2pm! hahahaha  Talk about being behind schedule...but I will be just fne.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, while various fellows arrived outside to mark out the location of the underground telephone, gas, electrical and fiber optic lines, the really big machines came onsite and are joyously ripping out our parking spot and most of the rest of the parking spots for our building, as well as most of the back lawn.  Sigh....we are going to be parking in mud once they are done with this repair, until all the winter ice and snow are melted away and the spaces are repaved in the spring sometime.  I am praying we will be able to access our spot again once this newly begun warm weather trend ends in another week or so, or we won't have anywhere to plug our vehicle in once it gets cold again.  Aaaaaargh!!

This has been quite a day and it isn't even 1pm!  hahahahaha  If you are interested in the outside project, check out the photos below:

 

 

 

 

The Perpetual Rollercoaster

 That is what my emotions are like these days when it comes to Mom.  The past two days she had such a tough time emotionally herself, but a visit from the home care supervisor yesterday settled her down considerably.  Last evening on the phone though she was getting negative again.  I wasn't sure what kind of a call we would have this evening, but once again she has rallied and was feeling very pleased about her eye appointment, getting new glasses ordered etc.  NO problems whatsoever with the taxi drivers....almost a first as they so resent having to drag senior citizens with walkers around the city, often for trips of only a few blocks, which can mean less tip to the driver.  My mother hands out tips as though they have taken her across the city, so their behaviour tends to be more reasonable after their first trip with her....this kind of thing does nothing whatsoever to relax me about being so far away from her!  So, I have to take better care to ensure that my emotions do not go bouncing up and down along with hers....a tall order, but it can be done.  I managed okay with Dad's emotional issues because I came to look upon him as if he was one of my elder care clients rather than my father. That is less easy to accomplish with Mom because over the past ten years I have been closer to her than I was to Dad.  Mom has two more trips to the eye clinic to get her new glasses and then hopefully that will be the last time she has to go that far from home for a long time.  I am SO grateful the weather was good, the optometrist and the techs were so good to her and the taxi service superb today. Thank you Lord for these answered prayers, amen!

Ash Wednesday.....at this time last year the churches were soon to be closed because of the pandemic and even those who are now taking advantage of the government's allowance to reopen with big restrictions on numbers and following intricate hygienic procedures are finding the Lenten season service schedule difficult to enact.  My husband enjoyed being part of the Zoom Ash Wednesday service with the other ministers and congregations this evening, happy that at least a few of his own faithful parishioners were able to parttake.  Our suite has smelled like acrid smoke all day as he burned kleenexes to make some ashes to smear on his own forehead during that part of the service.  This will be the second year Holy Week and Easter services will be done online in my husband's denomination.  If and when the churches are finally safe to be reopened completely, how many people will return to their "comfortable pews"?  

I am going to go to bed early this evening and enjoy the luxury of reading a book.  My mind has been so jumbled the past week or so that reading has brought no joy because I haven't been able to concentrate. I did better reading in the car yesterday when my husband was in the various businesses running errands than I have done at bedtime. Tonight I will attempt to get back into it again.  Mom had a good day today, so maybe I will be able to settle down for a change.

One Last Chilly Day! (For Awhile At Least)

 We experienced our daytime high temperature of -17C between 6am and 7:30am and now the temperature is heading downward to -25C for most of the rest of the day and overnight.  However, the warming trend does start tomorrow and it looks like we have about a week of very pleasant temperatures ahead.  Looking forward to it as the rise in temperature always equates to a rise in my motivation for living!

I woke up at 6am, perfect timing to get ready, get the car de-iced and head to the grocery store for its 7am opening.  There isn't much traffic building up at 6:45am along my route, so I had a very pleasant drive.  The wind was still and -17C feels SO much warmer than our recent daytime temperatures of -35C.  YAY!  There were only about 20 people in the store while I was there, I found every item but one on my list, which I was able to get at another store I passed by on the way home, the check out process was quick and easy and I had an opportunity to advise the cashier as to what her husband should do about the "welder's flash" he woke up with an hour before she had to go to work.  It was a satisfying experience all around!  There was a noticeable drop in the air temperature when I left the store at 8am, tiny snowflakes were falling and the cold wind was starting to howl.  So glad I got up and got going when I did.  Had I waited an hour to leave home I would have been too cold and discouraged to do the shopping.

This morning Mom is getting ready to go to the optometrist for her long overdue eye checkup and then will order her new glasses. I am praying she has no taxi troubles, that the weather there is as good as it was forecast to be and that she experiences no chest pains or other problems. I pray that her broken glass frames will manage to hold up until her new ones are ready and I pray that no new pandemic restrictions will surprise her at her facility, so she is able to get out of there and get her new glasses as soon as they are ready for pickup.  That niggling stress always underlies any appointment that has to be made in advance, any waiting period for upcoming events like picking up new glasses or hearing aids etc.  Mom has been trapped that way twice in the past few months and as a result has lost the vision in one eye from not being able to get to her injection appointments.  Her ophthalmologist is as sad as she is that this happened....STUPID PANDEMIC!  So many people are suffering physically who have never even had the Coronavirus.  

I THINK my son is having his annual kidney scan this week to check the nodules he has had for many years.  There has never been a problem, but now that he is older it is even more important to keep up with the annual scans.  I try not to worry, but I do feel a bit of anxiety each time.  We have had so much bad medical news in our family over the past year and a half that our minds always go automatically to the worst case scenario now. My son has my number though: although he admitted he is having the appointment, he has not told me exactly when it is, in hopes I will not remember it is happening and therefore not worry....HAH!!  As if.....  This is evidence he has no children of his own!!  hahaha  If he did he would know his plan of not telling his mother in an attempt to reduce my stress never works. hahaha

 

It is Ash Wednesday today: the start of the busiest season of the church year for my husband.  Lent into Easter is even busier than Advent into Christmas.  I am not sure why that is, but it seems to be the case. I think this year it seems particularly crazy because Lent and three Annual General Meetings all collide at this time.  He had no day off this week at all as he deals with one of his parish's issues, this afternoon and evening he has Zoom meetings/church services, tomorrow he has to do the final tweaks on his Wisdom Literature presentation for the following afternoon and then it is time to get the Sunday prayer service and sermon ready on the weekend.  

 Someone asked me yesterday if I am giving up anything for Lent this year and I assured them I am. I am giving up LENT!!! I have had to give up enough things and people over the past year as it is.  Enough already!!

 

I need to go and make a banana loaf.  I have exactly four bananas that have ripened almost to the point of blackness, so they are perfect for the loaf.  Thankful every loaf baking day for the wedding shower recipe book I received that has the no fail fruit loaf recipe in it. I have been making variations on that banana loaf recipe for over 40 years.  Wonderful!!  It is easy to get motivated to bake when I have had such a busy, productive morning and the sun is shining so brightly. 

Trying To Prepare Myself

 In our phone calls over the past few days I have become aware of Mom starting to go downhill health wise to some extent. After our conversations yesterday (3 of them) I realized she is definitely showing signs that her only kidney is failing. Her abdomen and tummy have been giving her a constant and growing number of symptoms, so the mobile lab unit is coming to see her later this week to do tests for kidney function. Her doctor is fabulous and has knocked himself out talking to her on the phone at least once a week, adjusting her meds, helping her in any way he can. 

However.....as she said last night, her kidney is tired. Her heart is tired. Her mind is tired. She is still enjoying her meals, but has lost all interest in reading books and in most of her tv shows, she is napping once, sometimes twice a day for the first time in her life and starting to pray that one of these days she will not wake up. Recently when she has reached over to her bedside table to turn off her morning wake up alarm, she has had brief visions of Dad standing at her bedside. She has very recently lost all fear of dying. So.....perhaps my hope that she will live to see the new spring greenery is not going to be realized. It is a difficult thought to contemplate. Her cognitive skills are still pretty sharp, but she is losing interest in most things she was enjoying until a week or so ago. 

Last night I received an email from the hotel we stayed at when Dad died and when Mom had her heart attack last year. They are trying to drum up business during the ongoing pandemic so are offering large price discounts. Seeing that email was like being punched. Seeing it so soon after my evening phone call with Mom when I began to understand how close to end of life she may really be, was incredibly difficult.

I am praying she will be with us long enough to enjoy the new glasses she is ordering this week and to utilize at least some of the products she sent me to get for her yesterday at London Drugs. I am mailing them to her this morning. 

I am feeling somewhat bereft, knowing Mom truly is not going to be with me forever. Sigh....

In happier news; the weather has started warming a bit! We get to go for a drive today so my husband can run his personal errands. Double Yay!

That's What I Call a Valentine's Day Dinner!!! YUMMY!

 What a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner I had this evening.  To me, "wonderful dinner" is any meal I don't have to prepare and cook, but tonight's dinner was quite delicious and not only because my husband did all the work!

He pan browned our favourite sausages, and oven roasted potato and turnip wedges, sliced carrots and yams, plus red peppers.  He made a delicious sesame dressing to druzzle onto the hot whole peppers.  It was my favourite type of meal: a variety of roasted veggies with a dressing for dipping and salty meat.  He outdid himself NOT making a huge mess of the kitchen and NOT using every utensil in the place to prepare our meal.  I didn't know he was going to make dinner.  I drove to the pharmacy in the late afternoon and when I arrived home he had everything prepared and in the hot oven already.  Unfortunately we were unable to have a glass of wine with our dinner because we have Evening Prayer service with his parish this evening, no time to relax and enjoy the wine, but still the meal itself was a most unexpected treat.  He said he felt he should redeem himself after telling me we were going out for lunch a few weeks ago and "treating" me to take out burgers and fries. hahahaha  Since I quite enjoyed those icky foods that day, there was nothing to be redeemed, but hey, if that was part of the reason I got to eat a stress and work free meal tonight, he can feel the need for redemption any time!!!  hahahahaha

The provincial Family Day holiday tomorrow has thrown my grocery and banking plans for the week into complete disarray, but that is okay. I think I can shift my personal plans and appointments forward by a day and still do what needs to be done this week.  One day is the same as another any more, with only Sunday church services to give me an anchor for figuring out what day it is.  In some ways it is kind of great not to have to care about what day it is from one week to the next.  This semi-retirement of my husband's is okay, but I admit I will welcome the day when he has no more regular priestly commitments.  I am ready for him to be retired completely, even if he isn't.

Do Ya' Feel Loved????

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

💓 💕 💖 💗 💘 💙 💚 💛 💜 💝 💞 💟 😀

PLEASE Can We Change the Subject Now PLEASE

 This afternoon former President Trump was aquitted and was not impeached for a second time.  If you tell me you are surprised, I will ask you what planet you have been on for the past few weeks. Seriously....

This useless posturing by the Democrats, costly resource and time wasting posturing, has been ridiculous from the start.  They knew going into this process that they only had a guaranteed 6 or 7 Republican votes to convict when 18 votes would be required. Then this morning the Senators reached a deal that would eliminate witness testimonies, the only remotely possible chance of gaining the other Republican turn around votes needed.  

What was the point of all or any of this expensive silliness??  

My hope and prayer is that we can now take the spotlight AT LAST off the former president, that both the Democratic Party members and the media will turn their attentions elsewhere.  PLEASE!  PLEASE! PLEASE!

I am officially DONE with this sad ex-president and I pray he can get some mental help and healing.

Kids These Days, Eh??

 As the pandemic drags on, more and more teenagers are becoming socially isolated as they are forced to take many, if not all, of their classes online.  My husband had a most interesting time with the youth group from my church last evening as they had a Zoom get together where he led a session on "what is prayer and why is it important?"

This group is a real "mixed bag" of a bunch of kids between the ages of 13 and 18. I think one of the youngest kids is actually only 12 years old.  It isn't easy to put together a presentation and hold a discussion on any topic, let alone a theological one, with such a wide range of ages and interests, AND on Zoom, where a lot of the kids have to be cajoled into actually turning their video cameras not only ON, but to point the cameras away from the ceilings in their homes once they do get brave enough to put their faces out there to be seen by the rest  of the group.  There are Christians, ardent unbelievers and kids who have not yet made any decisions about their religious beliefs.  It is a fascinating group of young people agreeing to meet together regularly.

Fortunately my husband is rather gifted in bringing such a diverse group together and he needed all of that gifting last evening! hahaha

He decided there was no point in simply parroting only the usual "Christian-ese" about prayer as petition and praise and leaving it at that.  Although he introduced those ideas, he also brought up the idea of prayer as lament.  He was amazed at how so many of the kids grabbed onto that idea and wanted to have deep discussion about what that kind of prayer is all about.  Some of the younger kids had never even heard that word before, so everything he said last night was pretty new to them.  They discovered that a prayer of lament is not simply complaining about the unfair things of life that happen, but that it is so much more involved than that.  They were fascinated by the idea of a deep longing for life to be better, not just personally but within the church and on the earth for all people everywhere, that God hears those laments and works to answer their prayers.  The kids had some excellent comments, questions and thoughts about lament.  In fact, the group went overtime by nearly a half hour.  

There is certainly hope for the world if young people like these are going to be the next generation in charge.  Even the shyest of them all had something to say that was intelligent, thoughtful and honest.  It was important to my husband to bring up the idea of lament because he wanted to make it clear that having a relationship with God includes intense honesty in our conversations with him.  Although prayers of petition and praise are also important, being a Christian is not about praying platitudes and false positivity.  Sometimes it is about gut wrenching, honest conversations with our Creator.  

It is a wonderful group to meet with and my husband is very excited to tackle part 2 of the conversation in a couple of weeks. The kids being able to still meet together, even if it is online, is important so they don't lose touch with each other and still have some semblance of social and spiritual interaction.  My church's youth leader has done an incredible job of guiding this group through these tough times.

Winter Health Woes Abound It Seems!

 I have just heard from my Florida friend, whose 18 year old son went into heart failure a few weeks ago.  He is still in heart failure and must wear his life saving pack 24 hours a day, so that is discouraging enough, but NOW his dad has come down with COVID19 and is in hospital in a rather bad state.  He is on O2 and many meds, but his oxygen levels are still far too low.  He will stay on the regime until Monday and then it sounds like he will be reassessed as to whether or not it is safe for him to complete his recovery at home.  My friend has MS, so she and her son are at great risk should they also catch this virus. So far they have had no symptoms, nor have the other two children still living at home.  This family has been to hell and back so often over the past 25 years that I can hardly believe they still have the spunk and the faith in God to keep going.  Oh my heart...can they never get a break????  I continue to beseech the Lord for help for them all.

Young Zane, newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after a crisis a couple of weeks ago that nearly took his life, is still struggling to get his sugar regulated. He is on gigantic doses of insulin that will likely cause a crash in his sugar once it actually takes effect better than it has...that tipping point could come any time and then the larger picture task of keeping his sugar regulated will begin.  The insulin pump he needs to wear costs  ten thousand dollars a year and his parents do not have that kind of medical coverage. Monthly costs for insulin and other needs are about three hundred dollars a month.  Fortunately the hospital Zane was in has a wonderful donor/sponsor programme that will pay that extra three hundred dollars for the first three months.  So, that buys some time for Zane's parents to try to figure out how they can earn a lot more money to care for his medical needs.  I am praying so hard for this family too.

When I hear what these families are going through, my own complaints about life are stilled.  I am not suffering.  I am feeling well most days, I have the ability to stay home and not have to go out to work each day to keep a roof over my head now that I am an old age pensioner.  I have good health care coverage.  I am blessed in ways that these families need desperately.  O Lord hear my prayer.....

Cee has some new hope and possibilities for help with his neuropathy and balance issues.  He is being referred to a physiatrist here in the city.  Oh how I pray this new medical person in Cee's life will be able to assess his condition with fresh eyes and open ears and mind, to be able to discover some ways of assisting Cee without the preconceived concepts that naturally accompany the thinking of the other doctors and specialists who have been working with Cee for the past three years.  When I pray for Cee these days I am feeling  stronger sense of hope.

This Cold Snap Business Is Wearing Thin!

 Last evening a friend sent me a Garfield cartoon meme saying that Mother Nature needs a hot flash! At this point I have to agree! Yikes, the daytime highs in the -30C range with wind chills around -45C are becoming tiresome at best. Here in Regina we are forecast for a slow release from the bitter cold, so have another week of being uncomfortable about having to start the vehicle to go out anywhere.

I am losing count of the calls and emails from friends who are battling with frozen plumbing pipes in their houses and broken water mains on their streets. It is becoming difficult to get immediate help from overworked plumbers and city crews. The ongoing intense cold makes the repairs hard to perform. Enough already with weather this unrelentingly bitter!

Both my husband’s sister and myself managed to sleep for several consecutive hours this morning, so our regular middle of the night email exchange was delayed by an hour, haha. It was so nice to be able to exchange some good news! 

Yesterday I was fairly inert, so today I want to be more active indoors. My appetite is under control these days, apart from my little foray into western Chinese cuisine the other day, so I have lost a couple of pounds. Yay! Always encouraging! 

Speaking of activity and food, a late breakfast awaits! 

Not Ironing.....ON PURPOSE!!

 Today I finally hauled out the ironing board to iron last week's laundry items. I have been threatening to do the ironing each day for the better part of a week, but I have deliberately put it off.  The main items to be ironed are my bluejeans.  I decided it is time to spruce myself up a bit and stop wearing jeans and a sloppy, old, pilled sweater day after day just because I am not going out much.  I am beginning to feel as much the slob as I look and that is not a healthy thing.  I think what got me going on this new dedication to looking like a human being once again is the new tube of mascara that came in my friend's SPA DAY pack of last week.  Obviously I am not going to bother wearing make up if I can't even bother to dress properly from day to day, but I want to try that new style of mascara brush in the package, so of course I want to be dressed up in actual clothing when I try it out.  Since my jeans have been unavailable I have had to dress better this past week. I have even been using the curling iron on my mass of fuzzy hair to good effect. Hallelujah!  Just the kick start I have been needing.  Of course all this revelation comes just as I am going into a self imposed two week isolation after eating in a restaurant yesterday, but there is no reason I can't dress properly and make up my face right here at home.  Why not, right?  

My tummy is still feeling warm and happy after the Chinese food feast I treated myself to yesterday.  Aaaaaaahhhhh, so delicious! Back to homemade pasta "stew" and chicken burgers today.Oh well...hahaha.

I now have a "middle of the night/early hours of the morning" buddy to exchange emails with.  My husband's sister has even more trouble sleeping through the night than I do, so it has become quite a lovely habit to send emails back and forth around 4am each day.  Writing an email seems to help her brain relax enough that she can then grab a few hours of sleep after being awake for so much of the earlier part of the night and into the early morning hours. Emailing seems to settle me down as well and so far these crazy 4am exchanges have been quite therapeutic for us both I think.

Today I woke up to the coldest 8am temperature this week so far: -35C. I didn't check the wind chill, but I am sure it was closer to -45C.  Thank the dear Lord that the sun has shone every single cold day thus far so that at least it looks cheery out there when I peer out the windows. Although having the drapes open makes me aware of the cold draught emanating from the glass panes, I would rather be a bit chillier in the sunshine than warmer in the gloomy dark of closed drapes.

A Great Escape!!

 Oh what a beautiful mooooooorning!

Oh what a beautiful daaaaaaaay!

I've got a beautiful feeeeeeeliiiiiiinnngggg.....

(thank you Oklahoma the musical)

 

Sunny and cold once again today, but at least we got out of here for a few hours and that was wonderful.  My mammies are grammed, our grocery supplies are topped up AND we went out for lunch today!!  YIPPEE!!!  No take out, no curbside pick up, no delivery service, just US OUT IN A RESTAURANT!  (OK, we only went in because it was completely deserted apart from the staff, but hey, it was a social outing with actual food we didn't have to prepare, cook or clean up afterward! YAY!)  We were about to pass by China Doll on our way home from the store and almost at the same time we each decided we should pull into the parking lot and find out if they were open for indoor dining.  According to the sign they were open: "We Open For Dining In"!  YAY!  The menue has been cut back to the point of being nearly unrecognizable from their former one, but we didn't care.  My husband enjoyed a yellow curry that was teeming with chicken and vegetables, enough that he had to bring half of it home for another time. I opted for a combo meal with good old fashioned chicken fried rice (chicken..fried rice...nothing else like yukky peas or onions), 4 large prawns and almond chicken chop suey.  Instead of the usual gag worthy red sugar sauce for dipping the prawns into, I was given a slice of fresh lemon and that was a far more delicious flavour for those prawns.  The lemon juice also brought out the flavours in the fairly bland chop suey and I was in heaven.  The jasmine tea went on forever as we drank pot after pot in order to warm up from the outside coldness. The staff and ourselves were duly masked and there was a tremendous amount of hand sanitation happening with us all, we had to give our name and phone numbers for contact tracing, there was excellent distancing between the tables,  and everything was wiped clean and sparkly.  We had a WONDERFUL TIME.

I arrived home just in time to receive a phone call from a good friend here in town and some emails from other friends I love.

Today has been a true mental health day. We didn't realize how badly we needed to get out and have some fun until we went out and had it!

A Family Medical Conundrum!

 We have just had a long conversation with my husband's sister about the results of her recent cancer biopsies and wow....what a confusing mess!

4 years ago she had several cancer related surgeries all associated with one to remove the stage 1b endometrial tumour and after enduring several months of "just in case" brutal chemotherapy and radiation she has remained cancer-free for the past 4 years....at least gynecologically. Her last check up was a month ago and all was well.

So, that has turned out not to be true.  The tumours in her lungs and brain are endometrial tumours.  From all available research and records available to the doctors and surgeons on her case, this has never been seen before by anyone.  How did that endometrial tissue end up in her lungs and brain??  There were no ruptures during the original surgery and no cancer was found in the surrounding tissue post surgery. No one knows what can be done to help her because there is no precedent for a case like this. Everyone is stymied!

Her case is now back in the hands of the surgeon who removed the first tumour and that doctor will be contacting colleagues from around the world, looking for help for my husband's sister. 

She told us that she values prayers from one and all.  Her own biology training and her ability to do her own clinical research is helping her to keep her emotions under control right now, so that is a good thing, but how long can that last?

 Thank you so much prayer warriors for praying.  In the midst of her issues none of us know when her husband's cancer is going to flare up again, so.....the stress has to be unbelieveable!  May the Lord bring the grace of peace against all odds. Amen!

AAAAAAND, I THOUGHT I Was Finished Testing...Not So Much Apparently!

 This morning I received news that what I thought was my final cancer test last week, is not the last one. hahaha

This morning's mail brought me a letter from the provincial health department telling me it is time for another mammogram.  Aiii yiiiii....I completely forgot it was getting to be that time once again. Two years has certainly flown by VERY quickly!!  

One very wonderful thing about living in Saskatchewan is that you receive notifications from the province every time it is time to schedule tests that are done for most all provincial patients on a regular basis, such as every 2 year mammographys, occult blood stool tests and what have you.  I think this is my final 2 year mammography. My age will now dictate that it be done every three years from now on, I think.....Oh my rotten memory.....

Anyway, I am waiting right now for the office to call me back with a testing date and time.  Then, if all is clear with the mammography that SHOULD be the end of the cancer testing for now. I hope....

This morning I got the results of the test I had last week and they is normal! Again no cancer at this time. Thank you Jesus....and my prayer warriors. Wow....

I am feeling badly for my Mom this week. She has been managing to wear her glasses with the bridge broken and sans one of the nose pieces for the past 2 weeks. Finally she had a checkup with the optometrist set up for this week, as it has been FOUR YEARS since she last took time for a checkup due to being afraid to leave Dad alone for more than an hour at a time, then the pandemic lockdowns happened, and on and on until her old glasses finally just broke!  This week her city is under the same cold front as my city. The day of her appointment there will be a high of -26C and a windchill of -35C and forecast snow.  Knowing the difficulties of getting proper taxi service in such conditions in her city, she is going to have to call the optometrist's office today and rebook, HOPEFULLY for next week when it is supposed to be considerably warmer outside. PLEASE pray she can get in next week and also that her darned old glasses will hold together long enough not only to get to that appointment and order new glasses, but for another two to three weeks afterward while she waits for the new glasses to be ready.  If she has no glasses she has no vision at all.  Personally I feel that Mom really DOES NOT NEED this extra stress and worry....dang it God, does she really need this mess right now on top of other issues?  I suppose she must, but it seems kind of unfair. Maybe God can use this to help her relax and trust in him a bit more as she sees him continuing to take care of her while she waits. I NEED to de-stress about this as well and keep my trust in him to care for her firmly in place!

My husband has been asked to volunteer to write another article for the provincial Anglican newspaper, something he truly enjoys doing, so he is hard at work on that this morning.  He has to finish up his first presentation on prayer for the FBC youth group meeting on Friday evening. He is so busy writing and enjoying the distraction from sitting around depressed and worried over his sister's health problems.  Hopefully she will have some positive news later this week. 

We had a lovely phone conversation with our son last evening.  He and his girlfriend had taken a walk to a park near their place where lots of families are able to toboggan down some fair sized hills.  The two of them were able to locate a partially broken, but still useful old sled and take a few runs down the hills themselves, but realized how out of shape they both have become since the pandemic lockdowns, as they were both exhausted in a very short time. hahahaha Welcome to the threshold of middle age you two! hahahaha

Soon they will begin seeking a new place to live.  The end of their free housesitting gig in beautiful, peaceful Manhattan is coming to an end in a couple of months, so at the end of February they will start a preliminary search for affordable housing, starting in districts of the city that are not too gruesome, with an eye to moving around the first of May.  Dear Lord be with them.  Ending up somewhere like Bushwick again will be a terrible shock after what they have become used to. Neither of them have much left in the way of their own furniture or cooking utensils and have become utterly spoiled by living in such a well outfitted, beautifully appointed apartment owned by an absent family member.  They are both busy collecting their pay stubs from the past year to prove their longterm US residency so that they can receive their COVID19 vaccinations before too much longer.  Vaccination administration in NYC is certainly far ahead of what is going on here! She writes her LSAT's at the end of this month and is determined to re-write if she fails to get the percentage she needs to get into a law school of her own choosing. I have no doubt she will pass, but the pass percent is equally important, so here's hoping for good news for her.  My son is happily, gainfully employed, working on some design contracts, finally getting paid for some teaching he did a year ago...sigh....and just thrilled with life these days.  It is very calming to hear such peace coming from him.

How about that Super Bowl game??  Those poor Kansas City Chiefs just "couldn't seem to hang onto the puck!" hahahahaha  I couldn't believe how many times they fumbled the football OR now many penalties they got for holding...and they should have received even more for that offense than they got!  Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on their well deserved win.  Wow though...American football seems so slow and dull to me compared the CFL.  Their rules are so different.  If that game last night had been played in Canada the Chiefs would have had the opportunity to attempt at least two touchdowns in the last fifteen minutes, but with American rules they had no chance that late in the game to even dream of catching up. Just my opinion, but I do prefer the Canadian rules.

Onward and upward...ironing awaits! I think I will wait and have my spa day tomorrow after all, so I can enjoy it right after breakfast and spend the whole day feeling amazingly refreshed.

Pandemic Thoughtfulness!

 I received a mind blowing surprise this morning when a Canada Post parcel delivery truck pulled up to my door and the driver deposited a box from an out of town friend between the back doors of our suite.

Inside the box was a lovely card wishing me tons of fun doing something special for myself.  The gifts were all related to having my own personal spa day at home: an exfoliator, moisturizing face masks and hand cream, a bath bomb, lipstick and mascara in just the right shades for me, my favourite lip balm, a book to read along with a lovely bookmark and 3 packs of single serving size nouri (seaweed) sheets to nibble on. There was also a little bag for carrying my pandemic face masks, with a flap snap top to seal them from rubbing against anything else and getting dirty or contaminated. The bag has a small cloth handle so I can hang it in the car with clean "emergency" face masks inside for those occasions when I drive away and accidentally leave my usual mask at home.  

I am blown away by this amazing and thoughtful gift.  But, then, why am I surprised to receive it from this particular friend?  The box of presents epitomizes Jo's thoughfulness and consideration, as well as her creativity.  What a thrill, on a cold, miserable, otherwise crappy pandemic winter day, to be on the receiving end of her incredible ability to give joy to her friends and family.

I think I will give myself a spa treatment this morning and maybe even get dressed for the rest of the day.  I feel newly inspired to strive for normalcy this week!